Fabrizio's Story Continues
by WogglebugLoveProductions
Summary: Fabrizio De Rossi's life continues after he has made a new life for himself and Helga in America. Along with their freinds and neighbors Jack and Rose Dawson. They face many more of life's joys and challenges during the earlier parts of the twentieth century.
1. Chapter 1

Fabrizio De Rossi really enjoyed his job of helping out the new immigrants who came to America. Firstly because he was an immigrant himself when he had come here on board the Carpathia just six months ago along with his best friend Jack Dawson who was now married to Rose Dewitt Bukater who he had met on the ship, and with Helga Dahl a young Norwegian woman who he was now married to.

He had at first been on his way here on the Titanic when it had sank four days into its maiden voyage. He and his loved ones had just barely manged to live through it though at the same time he felt the things he went through with it had made him stronger and also appreciate life more than ever.

Second, he loved his job with the new arrivals to America because he loved to meet with such a diverse range of people and in such great numbers every day. As he got to know them and help them to find their place in America he learned a tremendous lot of their other cultures, their customs and traditions, languages and religions, and even a few new recipes. He felt this broadened and enriched him as a human being and also as a citizen of the United States which he had become just three months ago.

Today he met with an Italian family of eight members that consisted of two parents and six children ranging from ages one to fifteen who had come over just this very day. The parents of course were in need of finding a suitable new home and stable jobs for themselves that would support their children.

As Fabrizio spoke with them he couldn't help but watch how the Italian mother held and nestled her year old baby in her arms and also how the oldest son always stood right beside of his father who wore a most proud expression for him. And noticing these things he couldn't help but think about his own parents. His father had been deceased for almost five years now though he still carried him in his heart all the time, and his mother was alive and back in his native home in Italy.

Subconsciously, thoughts and memories of his mother began to flood his mind and heart in torrents. He remembered how her nurturing love and affection to him and shaped the person he was today and for that he was forever grateful for. And how she always seemed to know exactly how to speak to him about anything in a way he could always understand. And how she always seemed to know exactly how to comfort him in the toughest of times during his early life. It was for all of these things that he returned her love and affection for him wholeheartedly and after all if it hadn't been for her he wouldn't have even come into this world in the first place.

How he wished she were here with him right now. Here to enjoy the liberty and the beauty of America alongside him, and meet his new friends and especially his wife Helga who he knew she would have no objection to for being of another nation as it was because of her teaching him to love and respect all people of the world no matter who they were that he had been able to fall so in love with Helga in the first place, even in spite of how they couldn't verbally understand each other in the beginning. He missed his mothers warm arms holding him and kissing his face so much now that a pang of loneliness and longing came over him from the inside out. He wished fervently he could bring her over to the States to live with him right now, but at the same time he well knew that he couldn't even afford half of the cost it would take to do so right now. He suddenly began to wonder if he ever would be able to.

He tried to keep his inner sadness in check as he helped the Italian family of newcomers find an apartment just big enough to accommodate all of them and also find the father a job as a shoemaker and the mother one at a small bakery. He bade them goodbye and continued with his job for the rest of the day and tried to keep smiling to everyone he met with but still the feeling of emptiness remained inside of his heart throughout and he found himself unable to diminish it.

Then at the end of the day he returned to his home at the apartment building which he and Helga and their friends the Dawsons lived in. He opened their door and found Helga standing there awaiting him. His face broke into a smile instantly at the sight of her own welcoming smile for him. How he loved Helga. She was his everything. His angel of light. When he first saw her he already knew he was destined to spend the rest of his life loving her just as sure as he was destined to spend the rest of it in America and he had been right.

She held her arms out to him invitingly and he stepped willingly into them. They then kissed passionately and lovingly and as they did he felt as he always did when they did this that he was right where he belonged with her and she belonged with him, right in each others arms. He felt they were part of each others hearts and souls and would be so till the end of time. They continued to hold each other for a few moments relishing in the feel of the warmth of one another's bodies pressed against each other and then they slowly pulled back and gazed into each other's eyes and smiles.

"Welcome home, my love," said Helga. Like his, her English had improved vastly since they had come here.

"I am always happy to come home," he replied with his usual sweet smile.

They then walked into the kitchen where she began to dish up the food she had made for their dinner, which they would be having tonight with the Dawsons as they did once or twice every other week. As he sat at the table and waited his smile slowly faded out and a very somber expression came over his features once again as thoughts of wanting and wishing his mother to be here returned to him and gave him a feeling of hollowness. This was very soon noticed by Helga and she became quite concerned as this was most unusual for him and she put down what she had been doing and took a seat at the table next to him.

"Fabrizio my angel, what is wrong? Why do you seem to be unhappy all of a sudden?" she asked tenderly leaning towards him.

He sighed as he looked up and gazed into her heart-shaped face with its ocean blue eyes and sunshine colored hair in small neat curls and said candidly, "I am just missing my Mama now. I always do, but now I do even more. I wish she were here with us right now."

Helga looked at him understandingly. "You do write her a letter every week or so, don't you?"

"Yes, but it is not the same as her being here," he said forlornly. "I just want to be able to be in her arms again and to show her around here... I want to share our happiness with her." He took in a small breath as his sweet brown eyes began to brim with sparkling tears.

Helga looked as if she were sharing in his pain at the moment. She did know what it was like to miss one's parents as she had lost both of hers to the sinking of the Titanic. She reached down and tenderly laid her hand over his own underneath the table and said, "Then you must bring her over here to live with us."

Fabrizio's lower lip began to tremble slightly as he shook his head slowly and replied, "But I don't know how I will ever get the kind of money needed to bring her here. And even if I do, maybe she won't come for I know how she loves Italia." As he spoke his tears began to slowly drip from his eyes and he reached into his left trouser pocket and took out the handkerchief which Helga had lovingly embroidered for him on his twenty-first birthday and dabbed them away and sniffled.

Helga squeezed his hand comfortingly and lovingly as she said, "Fabri, how can you say so? I mean, if she has any amount of the love I have for you she will willingly come, and I love you so much I'd willingly go anywhere just to be with you. And besides, don't you think she would want to see America too?"

Fabrizio dried his eyes and said, "I suppose you're right, mio angela. But I still don't know how I can get the money needed to bring her here. Do you?"

"Well, no," admitted Helga. "But I do know you can find it if you were to perhaps earn more by taking on another job in along with the one you have now."

Fabrizio's countenance brightened a bit. He hadn't thought of that, and it seemed like it was the very solution. "I suppose I could. But where could I?"

Helga thought a moment. "I don't know yet. But I do know it must be one to suit you and I'm sure it will be possible to find it if you just look for it."

Fabrizio smiled lovingly at her. How she reminded him of his mother by knowing just the right things to say to make him feel better. "Alright, I will look for another job starting tomorrow," he said. "You make me feel better Helga. Grazie. I love you."

"I love you, too, Fabri," she said and leaned forward to kiss him lightly and softly on his lips for a moment.

They then resumed making their preparation for their dinner with the Dawsons who arrived shortly thereafter. They all sat down and began eating.

It was soon when Jack spoke to Fabrizio. "Fabri, it's Thanksgiving soon. Do you know about it?"

Fabrizio thought for a moment and then replied, "No, I don't. What is it, Jack?" he asked curiously.

"It is a very special holiday celebrated here in America every year on the last Thursday in November in honor of the first people to come to America a few hundred years ago. They came here in search of freedom and they befriended the natives who already lived here who taught them how to grow things like corn and then when their first harvest came they had more than enough food for everyone and called it a celebration of feasting and giving thanks for their new home and friends. That day is still celebrated to this day as a celebration of American freedom and of friendship among us all, especially people like you and Helga."

Fabrizio smiled as he listened to Jack and his sparkled. "It sounds like a va bene holiday. I would love to celebrate here with all of you."

"I was hoping you would," said Jack. "I also wanted to tell you that tomorrow I will be going with you to your job so that I can sketch a few drawings for a newspaper column on the work that you do with the new immigrants here for the reason of the upcoming holiday."

"Fellisimo. I would like that very much, Jack," Fabrizio said with much enthusiasm.

"Great," said Jack. "And after that I'll be going to a homeless shelter for the same purpose."

"A homeless shelter? What is that?" inquired Fabrizio curiously.

"It's a place where people who don't have any homes for whatever reason can go to find food and shelter at least for a while," explained Jack. "I reckon there will be a lot of people there who have just come here too."

Fabrizio became very thoughtful at the idea of people without homes as the idea of it quite irked him. He believed that no one should ever be without a home especially people who came to America in search of a new one. He thought he would like to do something about it.

"If it is alright with you Jack, I would like to go with you to see the homeless shelter," he said.

"Sure, Fabri," said Jack.

So the next day Jack accompanied Fabrizio to his job and sketched a few drawings of the environment in which he worked. Then afterward Fabrizio accompanied Jack to the homeless shelter. Once there he saw dozens of people even more diverse than those he had seen while on the Titanic. He saw white, black, brown, and Asian faces and as many men as women as well as children. They went into the dining hall where they saw the crowds of people lining up for their evening meal and dishing up a huge variety of foods and then they watched the people eat just like they were almost starving.

Fabrizio was hardly a stranger to hunger as he had had to endure such things when he and Jack had been a couple of vagabonds wandering all over Europe for two years before they had won their tickets on the Titanic. Yet many of these people looked like they had suffered through it and more a lot more than they should have and he deeply sympathized with them. He saw men who were unclean, unshaven, and in very worn clothing and could quite relate to them, except he had always had a home he could back to if he wanted to and these people didn't have any home at all which he felt sure just wasn't right. He began wondering if perhaps he could do anything for these poor people.

And it was then that he knew exactly what his secondary job was going to be. So while Jack was busy with his drawings he asked to speak with the ones who were in charge of things around here and he was shown to them.

"Are all of these people here without homes and jobs?" he inquired.

"Most of them," was the reply. "Some are just on the brink of it."

"And do they get enough food to eat around here?" he asked further.

"Usually," replied the person he was speaking to. "Although at times we get low on our food supplies and we also don't often have enough extra clothes for them to change into. And also we often get short on space in the bedrooms for them to sleep in so they not everyone gets to sleep indoors all the time, which we really do regret."

"Do you know Thanksgiving is coming?" asked Fabrizio. "Will you have enough food for everyone here then?"

"We would like to, but it's most likely we'll end up a little short on it."

"But why?" asked Fabrizio.

"Well, there just aren't enough workers around here as it is, and just not enough donations come in."

Fabrizio's mind was quite made up then. "Well," he said, "then I would very much like to become a worker here and help out in any way I can. And I will make sure there is enough food for Thanksgiving and there are more beds."

"We certainly appreciate it, but are sure you will be able to do so?"

"I have another steady job and I earn enough to support myself and my family," he said, "I will do everything I can to help around here."

"Thank you."

He then signed a few papers and had his new job. Then over the next weeks he met with many of the people at the shelter and learned of their histories. He learned some were without homes simply because when they had arrived in this country they had nothing with them and had not known any English at all and so were unable to find jobs or housing. So he would take them to his job at Immigration and worked hard to find them jobs so they wouldn't stay homeless. He succeeded in a few. He also took extra duties at his first job so he could earn extra and afford to buy food for the Thanksgiving day dinner.

As the day for Thanksgiving began to get closer he began to buy much, much, much food for the shelter's dinner. He also decided he would cook some of the food for it himself and include some of his homeland's famous dishes such as lasagna with extra cheese and meat sauce.

On the day before the Thanksgiving dinner he stood in the kitchen over the stove making his family's secret special sauce and humming lightly to himself when Helga entered and stood beside him.

"Mmmm..." she murmured as she caught the whiff of his cooking. "It smells so good and so tempting I can feel my mouth watering."

Fabrizio looked over at her and grinned. He was so proud to know of the secret in his family's special sauce that had been kept just between them for many generations and it was the secret in it that was making Helga's mouth water. He dipped a wooden spoon beside him into the sauce and held it out to Helga.

"Would you like a taste?" he asked generously.

She tasted of the sauce on the spoon and her smile brightened as he eyes gleamed at the slightest tatse of it. "Oh, it tastes like heaven on earth," she uttered.

He smiled and then leaned towards her and gave her a brief lovingly tender kiss upon her lips. "And you taste just the same." he uttered sweetly.

Helga smiled at him with absolute adoration and said, "I really do love you, Fabri, for what you are doing for all these people today."

"I am just acting as I was raised to," he replied very humbly.

Shortly thereafter, they and the Dawsons gathered all of the food they had made and brought it with them to the shelter. Then at exactly six o' clock everyone who was in the shelter gathered into the dining hall and all sat down at the long tables in many long rows and looked at all of the food that was laid out on them.

There were of course many turkeys, and mashed potatoes with gravy, and cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes, and deviled eggs, and winter squash, and peas and carrots,turnips, corn on the cob, and bread rolls, biscuits, cornbread, banana bread, and pies of apple, mince, walnut, and pumpkin.

Once everyone had been seated, Fabrizio stood up at the head of the table in the very center of the rows and cleared his throat slightly before he began to make his speech.

"I welcome you all here today on this very special day of feasting and celebrating of liberty. Especially those of you who have just come to this country from the one you were raised in. You, like the first pilgrims before you, have come here to find freedom and a new and better life for yourselves and the ones you love, and so have I. You have all come so far and you must never give up hope for yourselves in finding your dreams coming true someday, even if you are now in the midst of hard times for yourselves and your families. I want you to know I am no stranger to such things and I have come through all of them and into light itself I believe. So just remember if you all will hold on together that you're dreams can never die but will see you through."

They all then held hands and said the grace and then began to dig into the Thanksgiving feast provided for them. Everyone had more than their fill of the food there was and everyone had a good time just being together.

Fabrizio greatly enjoyed his very first Thanksgiving and felt that no one in the whole room was more happier and content than he was.


	2. Chapter 2

It was now the beginning of December and as Fabrizio met with the newcomers who came to him at his job he would greet and part with them by saying, "Merry Christmas", or in some cases "Boun Natale". His heart was overflowing with the spirit of the season.

Once he met with a family of three from Germany consisting of a middle-aged woman with an almost grown daughter and a slightly younger son. When he wished them a Merry Christmas the older woman replied,

"Thank you, but we are Jewish and celebrate Hanukkah at this time of year. Or at least we will if we can find a stable place to stay here for the winter."

Fabrizio smiled and said, "I will see that you do."

"Thank you," she said. "It was a hard struggle to get out of our old country. All we wish for now is to spend our holidays with each other which is all we have left now that our husband and father has passed on. I only wish he could have lived to come here with us."

Fabrizio looked sympathetically at the family. "Was his death caused by what is going in your old country?"

They just nodded solemnly.

"My Papa died before I came here," said Fabrizio. "I came here because I knew he would want me to because it was my family's dream. I'm sure yours would want you to be happy here and enjoy your holidays just the same."

Then Fabrizio found the Jewish family a small home to live in and then shortly afterward he met with a young man from Scotland named Frederick McNission.

"So tell me, what kind of job do you think you would like to have?" Fabrizio asked.

"I think I'll take just about anything," he replied. "I'm just glad to have gotten out of Scotland alive. You see, I had just become a fugitive there in my home town. That is, I had been involved in a fight in a bar and my best bet was to escape out altogether. I am very glad to be here. My only regret is that I had to leave my beau Sally behind. But I promised her I'd come back to get her as soon as I could. I just hope she doesn't marry someone else before then."

"What makes you afraid she would?" asked Fabrizio.

"Well, her parents, especially her father didn't like me at all. They wanted to arrange her marriage themselves to someone they deemed to be suitable for her," explained Frederick.

"You won't have to worry if you and hers love for one another is strong enough," Fabrizio assured him. "I have a friend who is now married to a woman who her family didn't want them to be together. But they came through not only that but through the sinking of the Titanic ship that brought them together."

Then Fabrizio found Frederick a job working in a meat house and bid him goodbye.

Then as he was on his way home that evening and humming Christmas carols to himself he met up with Jack and they talked as they walked home together.

"Just think, Fabri, just last year we were spending our Christmas in England huddled under a bridge and drinking cheap beer and eating a raw turkey that was dropped from a butcher's wagon," said Jack reflectively. "Now this year we'll be having Christmas with our wives who we met on a ship that almost prevented us from having another Christmas at all."

"Si," said Fabrizio. "Is funny how fate can deal you a new hand. This will be my first Christmas in America and I wouldn't want to spend it any other way than with Helga, and you, and bella Rosa."

"Neither would I," said Jack. "And we'll have a real Christmas dinner too. Which I haven't had in five whole years."

"Si, and I will be in charge of cooking the turkey," Fabrizio said with a note of pride.

"Why?" asked Jack.

"Because me and Helga say so," replied Fabrizio simply.

"So what are you going to get Helga for Christmas?" asked Jack.

"I... I don't know yet," Fabrizio admitted weakly.

"That's okay," said Jack. "I haven't decided on what to give Rose either. I mean how could I decide? She has given so much to me at a time when I thought I had everything I needed. If I could I'd give her the whole world if it were mine to give."

"Si, and I feel same about Helga," said Fabrizio.

Then they reached the apartment building of their homes and entered into their separate apartments and shortly thereafter the De Rossis joined the Dawsons at their apartment for dinner. As they ate they discussed what their plans for Christmas were.

"I really hope you and Helga enjoy your first Christmas here, Fabri," said Jack. "It will be kind of different from the ones you're used to."

"Other than with the snow?" asked Fabrizio.

"Yes, with the snow," said Jack, "I can teach you all how to play in the snow and how to ice skate. And we'll pick our trees and decorate them together."

"What is the purpose of having a decorated tree in our homes?" asked Fabrizio curiously.

"I never really thought about it," admitted Jack. "I guess because it just looks pretty, and also that is where we put our presents to each other under and open them on Christmas day."

Once they had finished dinner, Fabrizio and Helga went back to their apartment and found it was getting quite cold inside it.

"It feels almost like it does outside," said Helga rubbing her arms.

"And I see why," said Fabrizio as he looked out through the window. "Look!"

Helga went up beside him and saw that a light snow was falling down from above. Fabrizio was smiling as he knew this meant Jack would be able to teach them to play in the snow soon. He also knew it was the reason why it was so cold inside because their building didn't have the luxury of the heating that other ones did. They did have a potbellied stove but they would have to wait until tomorrow to get more wood for it.

"The snow is really beautiful," said Helga. "But I'm still so cold."

"No worry, Helga," said Fabrizio with a very enchanting smile. "I'll keep you warm tonight."

Helga's eyes lit up as a hopeful smile came to her face. "Will you really, Fabri?"

"Si," he said simply.

So then they took off their outer clothing and got into their bed and huddled up close to each other. Then soon they became very warm as their passion for each other in their hearts ignited as they let loose all of their love and desires for each other.

The next morning when Fabrizio slowly awoke he found himself intertwined with Helga and her head resting on his chest and his head resting on her neck. He still felt quite warm from last night even though outwardly he could tell how the temperature in the apartment had dropped quite a bit overnight. As he looked at Helga he couldn't find it in his heart to wake her so soon and so he just lay there with her for a while until she opened her eyes and yawned and said they should get up and start the new day.

Then later in the afternoon the De Rossis went with the Dawsons to Central Park where they went to the frozen pond and rented some ice skates and Jack proceeded to teach them how to skate on the ice.

"It's really easy once you get the hang of it," said Jack. "And don't worry, Rose, I'll catch you if you should fall."

"I'll be there to catch you too, Helga," Fabrizio promised Helga.

"Not if I catch you first," she replied.

Then they went out onto the ice with Jack holding Rose by the hand and helping her along the way. Fabrizio also held Helga's hand as they watched Jack and Rose carefully and tried to copy their movements.

They had much fun ice skating though there were times when Helga almost fell and Fabrizio caught her, and also times when he almost fell and she had to catch him. Once when he started to fall and Helga caught onto him they ended up falling down on the ice together while clinging onto each other. Jack and Rose laughed at them and soon they laughed as well

Next Jack taught them how to have a snowball fight.

"We'll divide into two teams," he said. "How about women against men? Okay. Then you all have to make as many snowballs as you can and throw them at your opponents as fast as you can and the first team who gets the opposing one to stay down wins."

And so on they went. Fabrizio made the biggest snowballs as fast as he could and pummeled them at Jack, and many of them seemed to hit him in the face. Helga also did pretty good. Of course, Fabrizio did get his share of being hit back.

Then at the end Fabrizio managed to get Jack so cold and damp with the snow that he couldn't get up again. So then Jack called the game over and it was just as well because Fabrizio also felt like he couldn't hardly stand up anymore either. As cold and exhausted as he was though it was some of the most fun he had ever had.

They then went home and warmed themselves up with hot baths and hot chocolate. Then they went to the local tree lot and each picked out a tree for their apartment. Before they could decorate it they realized they had to first purchase the ornaments. Jack and Fabrizio volunteered to go get them, each secretly thinking it would also be a good opportunity to look for something for their wives.

When they went into the town's shopping center they each decided to go into separate stores to look for ornaments and gifts and to meet each other back at the same place they started at. So Fabrizio went into the first department store he could see. Once inside he found and selected the cheapest set of glass tree ornaments. Then he set out looking through different shops to find the perfect present to give to Helga. However, everything he found was either too expensive or just didn't seem quite right.

He was just about ready to give up when he spotted something in the window of one of the shops that was off to the side. It was an antique store and in the window he saw an old-fashioned phonograph with a crank handle in its side. He looked at it and thought about what he and Helga could use it for and then he got an idea. So then he entered the shop and asked the shopkeeper about the price of the phonograph and was surprised when he heard it was of a more than manageable price and so he purchased it on the spot. Then he left the shop and met again with Jack who was waiting for him.

"So what did you get Helga?" asked Jack.

"I got her this... thing... with a..." he made gestures to indicate something round with an extended handle.

"A phonograph?" asked Jack after a moment.

"Si," said Fabrizio grinning. "What did you get your bella Rosa?"

Jack sighed. "For a long time I just couldn't decide on anything, and then finally I settled on a short necklace of pearls for her."

"Are they real pearls?" asked Fabrizio curiously.

"No, I don't think so," admitted Jack. "If I could I would give her all the pearls, and diamonds, there are in the world."

"We can only give as much as we can, though, no?" Fabrizio said.

Jack nodded and then they went on their way home. Then they each went to their respective apartments and after they had securely hidden away the presents they had bought they decorated each of their trees.

"It's so beautiful, Fabri," Helga said after he had placed the star carefully on the top of their tree.

"Si," he said. "This is the first one I've ever had as we don't have them where I came from, though I wish we did."

The days went on and then turned to weeks and on Christmas Eve Fabrizio got off his first job early and then he went down to the homeless shelter where there was a party for everyone who came there. And then he with Helga and the Dawsons sang Christmas Carols outside with the Christmas choir. Then at the end of the day the Dawsons and De Rossis had Christmas dinner together. And then feeling quite full they all went to sleep in their beds.

Then on Christmas Morning Fabrizio awakened bright and early and so did Helga.

"Is Christmas Morning! Time to open our presents!" Fabrizio exclaimed.

They dressed in a hurry and then went into the living room to open their presents which they had placed underneath the tree the night before. Fabrizio picked out the wrapped box that contained the phonograph he had purchased for Helga and handed it to her.

"Helga, this I give to you, mio angela. Boun Natale," he said sweetly.

Helga smiled as she took it and delicately unwrapped it and then opened the box and took out the phonograph. There was a look of puzzlement on her face as she held it.

"Is a phonograph," Fabrizio explained. "With it we can have some beautiful music together."

Helga smiled then. "I would love to make music with you, Fabri, anytime."

Then Fabrizio took the phonograph and turned it and a soft and tender melody began to be heard from it. He faced Helga and held his arms out as he said, "Dance with me, per favor?"

"Of course. I'd love to," replied Helga taking his hands in hers.

Then they began to dance in a slow and light Italian waltz as the phonograph played their song for them which was none other than _Al Di La_. It was a song that Fabrizio had learned from his parents from his childhood and had sung to Helga while they were on the Titanic as it seemed to resonate so perfectly with his affections for her. And now she could hear it whenever she wanted to.

After they had danced until the song had ended, Helga kissed Fabrizio and then she stepped back a little from him and looked deeply into his warmly glowing brown eyes and said, "I have a very special present to give to you... although you will have to wait about nine months before you can hold it. But it is right here now, inside here," and she lightly rubbed her hand over her abdomen.

Fabrizio had stared at her as she had spoke in mild puzzlement and then as his eyes went to her midsection the realization of what she were telling him began to slowly sink in.

"You... you mean..." he pointed to himself, "I am gonna be a Papa?"

Helga nodded and said, "As sure as I am gonna be a Mama."

Fabrizio gasped audibly as his eyes started to moisten a bit. His heart raced as he looked at Helga's glowing expression. Then he embraced her with all the love he had in him as he began speaking incomprehensibly through his ecstasy. Then he kissed her ardently with more passion then he had previously thought he had in him. He had never been so happy before, not even when he had won his ticket to America.

"I love you, mio angela," he said as he pulled back gently from their kiss.

"I love you, too, angel of mine," replied Helga.

Once again, as Helga said she loved him, Fabrizio's world went so still inside, his heart seemed to pause in a beat and he could hardly breath and he felt just like he knew why he was alive today. He never took those words of hers for granted.

"We must tell Jack and Rose when they come over today," he said rapturously.

And so that afternoon when the Dawsons were over and enjoying Christmas lunch with them. Fabrizio looked toward Jack and said,

"Jack, you may not believe me... and I hardly believed it myself at first... Helga is now carrying un bambino!"

Jack smiled and said, "Good for you, Fabri. And you may not believe this, but just this morning Rose announced that she is carrying a baby too."

Fabrizio blinked in surprise and then gasped audibly as he exclaimed, "We will both be Papas!"

Then the four of them lifted their glasses of eggnog and clinked them together as they toasted to the approaching new year and to their future children.


	3. Chapter 3

Fabrizio stood at Helga's side and held her hair back as she finished throwing up into the toilet. She was now three months along in her pregnancy and was experiencing morning sickness. Their doctor had assured them this was to be expected and it only meant the pregnancy was a healthy one. Fabrizio patted her back as she cleared the last of the fluids out of her throat. Then he graciously handed her his handkerchief to wipe the remains from her mouth.

He smiled as she stood erect again and he gently placed his hand onto her stomach. Of course he couldn't feel any movements from the unborn child this soon though he did feel the slight swelling on her stomach and could tell there was indeed a new life forming inside of it.

Fabrizio could hardly wait to be a father. He had wanted to be ever since he had married Helga. Now that his wish was coming true he couldn't help but wonder how he could ever live up to loving and caring that his own father had had for him. But then he supposed most men feel this way when they are about to become fathers.

"Will you be alright till I get back?" he asked as he gazed into Helga's deep blue eyes.

She nodded. "Yes, I think so. You just have a good day."

So then he left her and went into the living room where he picked up his hat and exited the apartment. As he left the building he met up with Jack who was also on his way to his work.

"Boun giorno, Jack," he said as he walked alongside him. "How is your bella Rosa?"

"She is fine, though she had some mean morning sickness today," replied Jack. "How is Helga?"

"She is just the same," he replied.

"Just imagine, in six more months I'll be a father," said Jack with a broad smile.

"Me too," said Fabrizio excitedly. "I can't wait!"

"I would also like for you to be the godfather of me and Rose's child," said Jack.

"What is a godfather?" asked Fabrizio curiously.

"He's the best friend of the parents of the child at the time of its birth and he and the godmother, who will be Helga of course, are the second in charge of taking care of it."

"I would love to be your child's godfather," Fabrizio said happily. "And I'd like for you to be the godfather of me and Helga's child."

"It will be an honor to, Fabri," replied Jack. "Oh, and do you know what day is coming up soon?"

Fabrizio pondered for a minute and then he looked at Jack in puzzlement. "Uh... no. Is there a special day coming up?"

"Absolutely," replied Jack. "Soon it will be Valentines Day."

"What is Valentines Day?" asked Fabrizio with a curious smile.

"You mean you don't know – Oh, of course you don't!" said Jack. Then he explained. "Valentines Day is a day when people who special cards to the ones they love the most, as well as flowers and candies. I remember back in my school days when I used to get so many of those from girls all over my town. Most of them I hardly paid attention to. At the time I just never understood the reason for the holiday. And now I do. It's an official celebration of love, and I can think of no one who I'd like to spend it with more than my beautiful Rose."

"I am sure I would like to spend it with Helga," said Fabrizio dreamily.

"I am gonna get Rose something extra special for Valentines Day," said Jack.

"What is it going to be?" asked Fabrizio.

"I don't know yet," said Jack, "but it's gonna be something that really lets her know how much I love her."

"So I guess I should do the same for Helga, no?" said Fabrizio.

"Right. Well, I'll see you later tonight," Jack said as he took another route to his job and they parted on their ways.

Fabrizio was left beside himself wondering what he could possibly give to Helga as a Valentines Day present. He remembered Jack had mentioned cards, flowers and candies were traditional but he felt he should give Helga something much more special than any of those. He decided he would think on it more during work when he had time.

So then during the day at his first job with the new immigrants who came to him to find new jobs and homes he would occasionally ask them if they knew about Valentines Day and if they had any idea of what the perfect gift would be to give to his wife.

At first many of the people he met with either didn't have any idea or had ideas of things that he had never heard of and so couldn't imagine being able to get. But then towards the end of the day, an elderly gentleman who had come from Wales said to him,

"If it is something extra special for her that you want, then I could recommend nothing less than a love spoon."

"What is a love spoon?" asked Fabrizio curiously.

"It's from an ancient tradition in my old country dating back to the beginning of time. When a man loves a woman he carves her a wooden spoon with the bowl in the shape of a special symbol that represents all that he feels for her."

Fabrizio liked the idea of carving a love spoon for Helga. So he asked further about them and he learned about the various symbols that could be carved into one and the meanings behind them. They all sounded so true to the way he felt for Helga that he had a hard time deciding on the most appropriate one. Then finally he decided on a simple symbol of two hearts connected with a small comma in each one to represent their lives were together as one just as their hearts were and their child to be born was held within each of their hearts

He then spent the next two weeks carving and whittling and fining and smoothing the love spoon with the symbol of his choice with his skilled craftsman's hands of his namesake. He had just finished it when Valentines Day arrived.

So it was early on a Saturday morning when he woke up with Helga laying next to him and he leaned in and kissed her as he uttered, "Happy Valentines Day, mio angela." Helga looked up at him and asked what Valentines Day was

"Jack said it is an American holiday of celebrating the love of the one you love the most and giving them something to let them know how much. And as you are the one I love the most I made something just for you on this our first Valentines Day."

"I do appreciate it, Fabri. But you didn't have to get me anything to let me know you love me. I've known it for a long time."

"I know, and so have I," said Fabrizio smiling tenderly. "But I wanted to make you something to com-comm- commemorate our love for this special day."

"Well, what have you made?" asked Helga, immensely intrigued.

"I show you," he said.

He then got out of bed with Helga following after him. He then went to their dresser drawers and out of the first one he took out a long and flat cardboard box wrapped in light pink paper which he gave to her.

Helga smiled as she slowly unwrapped the box and when she opened it she took out the wooden love spoon and said, "It is lovely, Fabri. But what does it mean?"

"It is a Welsh love spoon," he explained. "A man from Wales I met at work told me about them. The two hearts joined together mean our lives are joined together just as our hearts are and the commas inside them are for our unborn child."

"Oh, I love it, Fabri! It's absolutely divine!" Helga exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fervently. "And you made it yourself?" she asked.

"Si," he said. "I learned about the art of carving from wood from my Papa. He was a maker of furniture." He then became a bit more solemn as thoughts of his father came to his mind. "If our bambino is a boy I'd like to name him Antonio as that was my Papa's name."

Helga smiled. "Of course," she said. "If it's a girl we can name her Helene as that was my mother's name."

Fabrizio smiled and said, "Si, those would be good names for our first bambino. We will have more, no?"

"I'd like to think so," replied Helga. "I was an only child so I might like to have a larger family with you."

"Same with me," he said.

Later that afternoon the Dawsons came over to their apartment.

"Happy Valentines Day, Fabri and Helga," said Jack brightly. "I wanted to let you know Rose liked the present I gave to her. It was a heart shaped picture frame that holds our wedding picture in it. We also wanted to let you know we're going to go out to eat now and wanted to know if you would like to come with us."

"Si, we'd love to," Fabrizio said eagerly.

So then the four of them went to the local cafe where they had sandwiches and then they all ordered a different desert for themselves. Jack had a piece of apple pie, Rose had a piece cheesecake, Helga had a piece of strawberry shortcake, and Fabrizio had a piece of chocolate pie with whip cream.

Overall, they all enjoyed their first Valentines Day together.


	4. Chapter 4

Fabrizio awoke just as the first rays of morning were filtering in through their window. His eyes fluttered open to see Helga's angelic face laying beside his own just inches away. He smiled as he thought she looked as beautiful when she slept as she did when she was awake. He closed his eyes again and cuddled up next to her and could feel the bulge on her stomach which was carrying their unborn child against him. He nestled himself against it for a few moments and then he suddenly felt something quite unexpected, it was very faint but definitely was noticeable.

He gasped as his eyes glistened over and he sat up slowly with his hand still resting against Helga's stomach. Then Helga's eyes fluttered open slowly and she let a soft sound like the coo of a dove. She smiled as she looked up at him and noticed his obvious elated expression as well as his sparkling tears.

"Why do you seem so blissful this morning, Fabri?" she asked.

"I... I felt... the baby... it kicked... inside you.." he stammered weakly with unbridled happiness.

Helga's eyes opened wide as she sat up and put a hand to her stomach. A moment later she gasped and her face filled with the same elation as his had.

"I feel it too," she whispered.

"He or she must be getting ready for the big day," said Fabrizio as he wiped the tears out of his eyes.

Helga nodded. "And what a perfect day to start making itself known."

Fabrizio's eyes widened once again as he realized exactly what day it was. "Mamma Mia! I almost forgot. Happy Birthday Helga, mio angela."

"Thank you, Fabri," said Helga. "Now I think we should all have some breakfast now," she added as she rubbed the center of her stomach slightly.

"Si, of course," said Fabrizio as he got out of the bed and then assisted Helga to do the same.

They went into the kitchen where he made them some scrambled eggs and oatmeal. As they ate he wondered about what he could do for Helga on this special day of hers.

"What would you like to do for today?" he asked.

"Aw, Fabri, you don't have to do anything for me," she assured him. "I have you here and I feel our child with me now and that is all I need to feel happy on today."

Fabrizio smiled sweetly. "But I really want to do something very special for you on this special day of yours.

"Well.." Helga though for a moment. "I suppose you could just make a little cake for us to celebrate today."

"Okay, I will," he said.

Then as he went to his two jobs that day he thought more about what else he could for Helga to make her birthday more special. He recalled some of the traditions he had learned about from the various newcomers he had met with especially for girls and women. It was then that he remembered about how a Spanish family who had a daughter who was about to turn fifteen said they were going to celebrate her birthday by throwing a quinceanera in which she would have a new pink dress with a matching bouquet of pink roses and a makeshift crown, and there would be a party with dancing and drinking and cake and presents and in the evening they would have dinner at a nice restaurant and her boyfriend was to make a toast and a speech with a large goblet. The more he remembered about this Spanish tradition the more he thought about how he would like to use some of the things from it as a gift to Helga.

So in between his working hours he went to thrift store where he purchased a secondhand pink dress with ruffles and puffy sleeves and then he went to a flower shop where he purchased a bouquet of pink roses. Then he made a crown out of cardboard and painted it a pastel pink. He then went to the best restaurant they could afford and made reservations for them for tonight and also ordered a cake to be made.

Then after he got off work early in the late afternoon by explaining about the special occasion he picked up the things he had bought and went home to their apartment. He found Helga sitting in a chair in the living room and knitting a pair of tiny socks for their soon to be born baby. She looked and smiled in surprise at seeing him home this early.

He smiled and said, "There is no other place I would rather be than with you on a day as special as this." He then pulled out the gifts he had bought for her from behind his back and presented them to her with a wide grin spread across his face. "Happy Birthday, mio angela."

Helga gasped as she stood up and put down her knitting and took the box containing her dress and opening it she gasped at the simple elegance and beauty of it.

"Oh my, Fabri!" she uttered. "You really didn't have to do this for me."

"But you see I wanted to," he explained sweetly. "Now let us see you in it mio princessa."

So Helga took the dress and went into the bedroom where she changed into it. She came out moments later wearing it. Fabrizio gave something between a gasp and a whistle at the sight of her.

Then after he recovered from his awe slightly he handed her the bouquet of pink roses and bowed saying, "For you, mio princessa."

Helga smiled as she took the roses and held them up to her bosom. Then Fabrizio revealed the crown he had constructed for her and stepping up he placed with the most carefully delicate precision on top of her head of blonde curls.

He then stood back a little ways and beheld her in all her splendor. "I now see you are so much more than just my princessa," he breathed. "You are a Queen, a Queen of all the world!"

Helga blushed, making her cheeks turn a pink that matched her dress and crown and roses. "Fabri, I love you... so much," she murmured.

"I love you more," he replied sweetly.

He then looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "Ah! Now is the time."

"Time for what?" asked Helga curiously.

"Come with me, mio signorina," he said as he held out his hand to her.

She took his hand and he bowed and then led her out of their apartment then outside of the building Just n front of the building's entrance she found a beautiful carriage being driven by a man wearing a top hat holding the reigns of a large ginger colored horse. They seemed to be waiting just for them as when he saw them the man in the front smiled and nodded and tipped his hat slightly to them.

Helga gasped in surprise as Fabrizio led her up to the carriage and gestured toward the back seats of it saying, "Your chariot awaits, mio signorina."

"Oh, Fabri!" Helga said breathlessly as she sat in the left seat of the carriage, "You went through all this trouble just for me?"

"It was no trouble at all," he assured her as he took the seat beside her. "I would willingly go through anything just to see the smile you have on now." He then leaned in and kissed her.

The man in front of them then pulled on the horse's reigns and they began to move forward at a slow and steady pace. They sat comfortably and contentedly in the carriage as they watched the sights of the city slowly pass by them, and sometimes people who knew Fabrizio would look up and smile and wave to them.

When they stopped the sun was beginning to set. Helga looked out and saw they were now in front of a restaurant called _La Bella Notte_. Helga gasped again as she was once again taken by surprise.

"Why, Fabri! I would never even dream of stepping into a restaurant as lovely as this one," she said.

He smiled as got out of his seat and then held out his hand to assist her in getting out of the carriage. "Until tonight I wouldn't have, either. But I could find no other place more special than this for you on this special day."

They then stepped down from the carriage together and entered into the restaurant where they were met by a waiter who smiled and nodded to them as though he had been expecting them.

"Good evening, Mr. And Mrs. De Rossi," he said cordially.

He then led them to a table set for two with fine silverware and cloth napkins. Fabrizio pulled out Helga's chair and she sat down in it and he then pulled it gently up to the table again before taking his seat beside her. They then looked at their menus and both ordered the spaghetti special.

Moments later Jack and Rose entered the restaurant and took their seats at a table next to theirs. Then after they had all eaten their dinner the waiter from before entered from the kitchens holding on a large platter a fair sized cake thick with yellow and strawberry icing and twenty lit candles on top of it.

Fabrizio then stood up and began singing "Happy Birthday" to Helga in Italian and Jack and Rose joined in singing it in English. The waiter then set the cake carefully down onto the table and bowed to them before going on his way. Helga then stood up and bent down and took in a breath and then blew out all of the twenty candles with it. Everyone clapped.

Then Fabrizio took a knife and cut a slice of the cake for Helga, himself, and Jack and Rose. Then he continued to stand as he took a large chalice filled with fine wine and held it for all to see as he began speaking.

"On this very special day of my wife Helga De Rossi, I drink to a long life for both of us and a happy marriage to live it out, as well as for the health and life of our soon to be born child."

They then clinked their glasses together and sipped from them as everyone in the restaurant with them applauded.

As they ate their cake Fabrizio leaned towards Helga and whispered, "What did you wish for?"

She smiled and replied, "I had nothing more to wish for than what you have already given to me."


	5. Chapter 5

April came and with it brought the first anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The Dawsons and De Rossis attended the Memorial Service for the lost souls of the Titanic along with many of the people who had lost someone on that ship. Jack had brought his sketchpad and was sketching the scene before them for the tomorrow's paper.

As he stood in the crowd beside Helga and Jack and Rose, Fabrizio couldn't help noticing the many sad and lonely faces of those around them. There were women who had no doubt lost their husbands, and children who had no doubt lost their fathers, and also other people who they cared about. He remembered learning how time could heal wounds though he could see that most if not everyone here were still in the process of healing.

He also couldn't help remembering how it was on the Titanic that he had met Helga. He could still remember the unexplainable rush of warmth he had felt when their eyes had first locked in the third class corridor, and how he had danced with her at the parties in the evenings and also had somehow learned how to communicate with her in spite of their lack of a common language at the time. It was the simple miracle of this that he knew she was the one for him.

Then his memory shifted to when he had said goodbye to Helga for what he thought at the time could be the last time. Never in his whole life had he felt so much sadness and about anything before. He had wanted them to stay together but could see how that was impossible at the same time and so he had just accepted what fate had brought to them. Then for the first month he lived in America as happy as he had been to be alive and to be here there was still a touch of emptiness in his heart where Helga had filled it with joy. But he never gave up hope of finding her again and then he had almost out of the blue.

Thinking of this his eyes began to blur with bittersweet tears and he quickly grasped Helga's hand tightly. Glancing over to his side he could see that Jack and Rose seemed to be experiencing the same things. He then felt Helga squeeze his hand tightly and then he brought his other arm around her shoulders and her close to him. They stayed like this through the remainder of the memorial service.

They left the service with all of them wiping their eyes that afternoon. Then Jack was the first one to speak and to try to lighten the atmosphere.

"So what do you say we go see a movie now?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful.

They all agreed to this and so they went down to the local nickelodeon theater and watched a one reel movie called _Saved From The Titanic_ that starred Dorothy Gibson who had also been a survivor from that fateful voyage. It was about the young actress' ordeal of the Titanic tragedy and then overcoming her fear of ships by marrying a naval officer. They all cried a bit during it as it reminded them of a bit of their own ordeal of that fateful voyage.

As they left the theater to go back to their homes Rose began to talk about her dreams of being on the screen herself someday.

"I've always wanted to be a moving picture actress. Of course, Mother would have never approved, but now I guess that doesn't matter. Do you think I could ever achieve the kind of success at it that Dorothy Gibson has?" she asked Jack.

'I think if anyone could do it, you could," he said smiling at her with love and adoration.

Rose returned his look and said, "Of course I also still want to have time to be a good mother," as she rubbed her very swollen stomach which was carrying an unborn child.

The next day Jack and Fabrizio met each other after their working hours had ended and they began to discuss what they each might do for their wives to commemorate this first anniversary of how they had met them.

"I'm sure I nearly died out there in that freezing North Atlantic," Jack said. "And yet here I am alive today and married to Rose and we're about to become the proud parents of a child that could've never have been conceived if the fates weren't kind to us, and I want me and Rose to always remember what we went through together to have a family."

"Si," said Fabrizio, "and so do I. There must be some way we can keep hold of our memories as we make new ones in the future." Just then his expression brightened as the realization of just what they needed for this purpose came to him.

At the same time Jack seemed to realize it as well. "Are you thinking of what I'm thinking of?" he asked smiling.

"Si, I am," said Fabrizio.

They then went to purchase the gifts they had just thought of for this occasion.

Then later they arrived back at their homes and each went into their respective apartments. When Fabrizio went into his he once again found Helga sitting in a chair and knitting something.

He smiled though when he spoke it was in a rather solemn tone. "Helga, today is the anniversary of when we said goodbye to each other, and then we found each other again."

"It was worth the wait," said Helga.

"Si, it was," he said. "I don't want to have to ever go through such a thing as we did on that ship ever again, but I also don't ever want to forget about it so as to as always remember how we met and what we have to live for. And so I got you a present for this day."

He then took a large gift wrapped box from behind his back and extended it towards Helga. She stood up, putting down her knitting, and took it. Then they both sat down as she undid the wrapping and the ribbon around it and opened the box to find a very large and think leather bound book with words engraved into the center of the cover that read _Our Precious Memories_. She then opened it to find all blank pages.

"It is a photo album, you see?" Fabrizio explained. "I realize that someday after our child is born he or she will ask us about how we met, and so we will be prepared with this. We will put newspaper clipping and photos and some of Jack's drawings in here and we will be able to explain and to always remember how we came to be together."

Helga smiled as she leaned over towards him and kissed him. "Thank you, Fabri," she said. "I love it."

Then they set about putting clips from old newspapers they kept about the Titanic's sinking in their new album as well as photos of them with the Dawsons, and Jack also later supplied a few drawings to it.


	6. Chapter 6

The spring turned to summer and with it brought the first wedding anniversaries of the Dawsons and the De Rossis. After he had helped Jack to find a present for Rose for their anniversary, he at once began to concentrate on finding one for Helga for theirs.

Their anniversary was just one day away when he and and Helga stood in their kitchen after washing the dishes of the day's breakfast. As he had stood beside her he could feel the kicks and movements of their soon to be born child inside of her stomach which was now swollen to nearly the size of a full grown watermelon. He now pressed his hand against the lower part of it and could feel quite strong kicks coming from within.

He chuckled as he said, "It feels like it is a boy inside there."

Helga chuckled also then said, "Well, shouldn't be going now? You don't want to be late."

He nodded. Then he hesitated a moment on his way to the door. Turning back he said with concern, "You won't have the baby before I get back, will you?"

"Of course not," she assured him. "It shouldn't be until at least another month or two."

"I know," he said. "But it felt like it is getting quite restless in there."

"Don't you worry," she said. "I'll have Rose right next door to help me out in case something happens."

He smiled and nodded. "I'll see you this evening," he said just before exiting the apartment.

Then as he walked down the street towards his first job his mind again centered on what kind of present to give to Helga for their anniversary. She had assured him that all she wanted was to spend it with him and make more memories together, but still he wanted a little more for her than just that.

As he walked along he spotted a couple on the other side pushing a baby carriage along. He smiled as he began to envision himself with Helga and the Dawsons out with their babies like that.

Shortly afterward he reached his workplace right on time. During the day things went much the same as ever. At one point during the day he met with a man from Bosnia who had a wife who looked to be almost as pregnant as Helga was.

"Are you with child?" he asked her.

"Yes, indeed," she said. "And that is part of the reason why we came here. Because we need more space for our larger family than what we had available."

They also had a son of about ten years old and Fabrizio couldn't help but notice how when he walked he had a slight limp in his left leg.

"Why is he limping, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked with concern.

"He had an illness a while ago that almost crippled him," his father explained sadly. "We couldn't afford the proper doctors for him, and we don't know if his condition will get any better or any worse."

"Well," said Fabrizio. "We have doctors here that are the best and I am sure they will be able to help you out. In fact, I think I should show you to our doctor here right now. Come with me."

So then he brought them into a small clinic in which there was a doctor who looked over the boy with grave concern.

"How did he happen to get his disease?" the doctor asked the family.

"We're afraid we don't really know," answered the father.

"Is it contagious in any way?" the doctor asked further.

"We don't know," said the mother.

"Then I'm afraid I don't know of much I can do for you," said the doctor sadly. "And I'm also not sure if you'll be able to get in here with his condition."

"But they must be able to get in," Fabrizio exclaimed. "Can't you see she is with child and they need some place to say? And just because you aren't able to help them with their son's condition doesn't mean it can't be helped. If we could just search for the doctors who can I'm sure it could be."

The doctor looked at them solemnly and scratched his head a moment. Then he said, "Alright. I'll leave it to Mr. De Rossi here to set you up with housing and jobs, I'm sure he knows what he is doing."

Then Fabrizio did so and promised he would continue to look for a doctor for their son.

Then shortly afterwards he was on his way to his next job at the shelter for the homeless. On his way there he passed a set of buildings beside an alley like he always did and didn't think any differently of it until he thought he heard the sound of shouting and pounding coming from somewhere around them. He stopped and listened and then he heard a heavy thumping and the sound a door being slammed violently. He knew this meant trouble and so he headed in the direction he thought he'd heard the sounds in.

He stopped short when he saw there was a young girl of about sixteen years old laying down in front of the doorstep of one of the buildings. He rushed up to her and saw she had many cuts and bruises on her face, arms and legs, and possibly more where he couldn't see. Her clothes were filthy and torn in places.

"Mamma Mia!" he whispered.

She stirred slightly and opened her bloodshot eyes and saw him. She then tried to stand up but seemed to have been to badly injured to barely move at all. So he extended his hand to her and helped her up and then he continued to support her balance.

"What has happened to you?" he asked very concernedly.

When she spoke it was in a thick Russian accent. "My... father... he beat me..."

"He did? But why?" asked Fabrizio much shocked.

"He just want to teach me a lesson," she replied weakly.

"This not what I call teaching a lesson," Fabrizio exclaimed passionately.

"It is just his way," she said. "He has done it before. He does love me."

"This is not what I call love at all," Fabrizio said. "If he has done this to you and thrown you out he cannot possibly love you."

"He has thrown me out before, and has always let me back in after a few days," she said.

"But you shouldn't have to endure such cruel beatings from him," Fabrizio said insistently. "You must come with me and I will show you a place where you can have proper care and shelter."

"No," she protested. "He needs me. I do all the cooking and cleaning for him."

"He doesn't deserve for you to do that for him," he said. "I know what makes a good father and he is not."

Then after a bit more persuading he finally convinced her to come with him to the homeless shelter. There he brought her to the doctors there who treated her wounds. She also found some new clothes to put on.

Then later when it was meal time Fabrizio was serving the food for everyone there today and he when he served her he couldn't help but notice how a boy her age sitting close beside her was looking at her in a way that reminded him of when he had first looked at Helga and when Jack had first looked at Rose.

Afterward, he came to the boy and said, "I notice how you look at Natia. You really like her, no?"

The boy blushed and said, "I guess I do."

"Then you should tell her," Fabrizio said.

"But she is Russian and I am American," he said dejectedly. "We don't go together at all."

"I am Italian and married to a Norwegian who is about to have un bambinio," he said smiling. "I believe it doesn't matter where you are from as long as your love as strong enough to bridge the distance between you."

"But still I have no home or means to provide for her," the boy said."

"She has no home either, but that could change with time," Fabrizio said. "I could look for a job for you and then you two could eventually leave here and be together. I think that would make the both of you va happy. And she really does need to know what real love is," he added solemnly and then explained about her abusive and neglectful father.

"Well, when you put it that way," said the boy. "I guess you're right."

Then as Fabrizio left to go home he watched him go over to Natia and speak to her. He smiled feeling good inside. As he walked down the street towards home he thought about all of the memories he had made so far in America and how much he wanted to hold on to all those memories as well as make more. Then he at last had an idea of what to get Helga for their anniversary.

So then the next day he and Helga sat down together and handed each other two small gift wrapped objects that looked exactly the same. They each opened theirs at the same time and they both found the same things which were two small books with blank covers and pages.

"I see you got me the same thing I get you," Fabrizio said chuckling.

Helga chuckled as well. "I thought you might want to keep track of all of the memories we make together though both pictures and words," she said.

"Si, I do," he said. "And I suppose it is true that great minds, and hearts, can think alike, no?"


	7. Chapter 7

It was one morning in the middle of August when Fabrizio and Helga were just waking up and about to start on making breakfast when all of sudden Jack came bursting into their apartment. He was breathing heavily and seemed to be in a cold sweat.

"Come quick! It's Rose! She's having the baby!" Jack exclaimed breathlessly.

Fabrizio and Helga then hurried with him to the Dawsons apartment with their breakfast completely forgotten for the time being. There they found Rose lying in bed with sweat running all down her forehead and face and soaking her long red curls. She was breathing heavily and laboriously. Jack at once went to her side and held her hand tightly while Fabrizio and Helga went over to her other side.

"It'll be alright now, Rose," Jack said soothingly. "The doctor will be here any minute, so hold on for just a little bit longer, okay?"

Rose smiled feebly as she looked at him.

Fabrizio then took her other hand and said, "You'll be okay, bella Rosa. We're here for you."

Then shortly the doctor arrived and began to help Rose through her birthing process. Rose pushed while he pulled and there was a lot of screaming and a bit of crying in between, and then finally there was the sound of a new infant's cry as it was pulled out from her.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful girl!" said the doctor as he held her in his arms wrapping a small white blanket around her.

Jack was smiling with his filled with happy tears as the doctor handed Rose their baby girl. Fabrizio and Helga looked on smiling as well.

"Jack," said Rose, "I'd like you to be the one to name her."

Jack had only a moment to think on it. "Josephine Elizabeth Dawson. Josie for short."

"Come Josephine in my flying machine. Going up she goes, up she goes," Rose began to sing the familiar melody.

Jack bent down and kissed Rose on her lips and then he kissed his baby girl on her head.

Shortly later the doctor left and then Fabrizio and Helga went back to their apartment to leave Rose to her nursing.

Fabrizio pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed away the sweat on his forehead. "Hearing la bella Rosa scream like that was making me nervous," he said with a sigh.

"Jack and Rose now have a child to call their own," said Helga dreamily. "And soon we will too," she added as she patted her enlarged stomach.

"Si," said Fabrizio, "and I hope it is soon."

And it was. A few days later when they were finishing up washing the dishes of the morning's breakfast together Helga suddenly stopped and leaned against the kitchen counter as her hands went to her lower abdomen. She gasped and Fabrizio looked down and went rigid as he saw a puddle of water dripping onto the kitchen floor. Then he looked up and saw that blood was starting to stain Helga's dress.

"Fabri!" she gasped. "This is it! The time is here!"

He needed no further instructions as he quickly wrapped his arm around Helga and supported her balance as he led her into their bedroom and helped her to get onto the bed where she continued to clutch at her stomach and breath heavily.

"I go call our doctor now," he said trying to sound calm. "You just lay here and keep breathing."

He then went into the next room and picked up the phone and turned the numbers until he got in touch with the operator who quickly got him their doctor. Then still trying to stay calm he told the doctor about their situation and then hung up after the doctor said he'd be right over.

Then he went quickly back to Helga and held her hand tightly as she continued to breath laboriously.

"Just keep breathing," he said soothingly. "You can get through this. I know you can. You are strong woman."

Helga smiled weakly up at him and he bent down and kissed her on her sweaty forehead.

It was soon that their doctor arrived and he helped Helga through her birthing process as Fabrizio continued to hold her hand and stroke her head tenderly. Helga pushed with all her strength and though she was strong she still screamed and cried every now and then and each time Fabrizio would encourage her to keep on pushing and he would kiss her hoping it would give her added strength.

Then at long last they heard a loud cry as the doctor pulled out a newborn infant from Helga's opened womb. Fabrizio's eyes instantly welled up with unmeasurable happiness as he instantly saw that it was a boy.

"Congratulations, you have a boy, Mr. And Mrs De Rossi," the doctor said as he wrapped the crying baby in a white blanket he'd had at the ready.

"His name is Antonio Enrico De Rossi," Fabrizio said proudly.

The doctor then handed the baby to Helga and left on his way. Fabrizio sat on the bed beside his wife and looked at his son. He was so tiny and so tender looking, he had light brown eyes and a bit of black hair around his head.

"Would you like to hold your son, Fabri?" asked Helga smiling.

He nodded and she handed him the baby. He held Antonio and rocked him slightly and wondered if this could have been exactly how it felt with his parents when he had been born almost twenty-two years ago. He began to sing a soft lullaby to him in Italian and though he knew he couldn't understand the words the melody seemed to be soothing him and then finally he stopped wailing and closed his eyes and fell asleep in his arms.

"You will be a good father, Fabri," Helga said with positivity.

Fabrizio hoped she was right. He then bent down and kissed Antonio on his forehead.

"I hope his grandmother will get to meet him soon," he said.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the early morning of Fabrizio's twenty-second birthday. He stood with Helga and the Dawsons with their babies in their carriages at the New York harbor waiting for the ship that contained his mother to come into the dock. Over the past year he had done well at both his jobs and with Jack pitching in a bit he had finally been able to afford for his mother to be brought over to America from Italy. Over the past few months they had made arrangements and it was by coincidence that the ship bringing her would dock on this day.

Fabrizio looked out at the Statue of Liberty and couldn't help remembering when he had first seen it up close when the Carpathia had come come into this same harbor. Now at last his mother would be able to see it for herself. The thought filled him up with bubbling ecstasy.

"What is your Mama like, Fabri?" Helga asked.

"She has a heart of gold," he said. "She is also very wise. And also the best cook in all of Italia."

"That was how I remember her," said Jack.

Just then they began to see the ship appear on the horizon. As it sailed closer into the dock they began to be able to make out the people gathered on the ship's deck. One figure in particular caught Fabrizio's attention instantly.

"I see Mama! I see her!" he exclaimed jumping up and down and waving his arms in the air in excitement. "She is very small, but I can see her!"

"You always did have good eyesight when it came to long distances, Fabri," said Jack.

Fabrizio took off his hat and waved it towards the ship and Helga and the Dawsons also began waving their hands towards it. Fabrizio soon saw his mother waving back to them, and then when the ship came to a stop in the harbor he could then see her more clearly and saw she was smiling and waving and blowing kisses to him. She was wearing a long green coat over a long flowered dress.

Then as the gangplank on the ship was lowered onto the dock the passengers of it began to disembark making their way down the gangway. And Maria De Rossi, Fabrizio mother, was among the first to step onto the dock.

"Mama!" Fabrizio rushed towards her with his arms outstretched and they embraced each other with exquisite love and affection. "Welcome to America," he said as he kissed her cheek.

She returned his kiss and then gently pulled him back and looked him over with the same love and pride he had seen in her eyes on the day he had left their home in Italy with Jack. "Fabrizio, ragazzo mio, you so grown up now! You look so like your Papa, you have his mustache and you still have his hat."

"I have missed so much, Mama," he said emotionally. Looking her over he saw she had more gray hairs than she had when he had last seen her and her face was more lined.

"I have missed you, too, mio angelo," she said. "Have you been taking good care of yourself while you were traveling?"

"Si, of course, Mama," he assured her. "We have much to catch up on."

He then turned and gestured towards Helga, their friends, and children. "Mama, this is Helga, she is my wife who I told you about so much in my letters."

Mrs. De Rossi stepped up to Helga and embraced her in much the same way she had Fabrizio. "You are as beautiful as he described," she said as she stepped back and looked her over. "I will always love you as though you are my own daughter."

"These are our friends the Dawsons. I believe you know Jack, and this is his wife, la bella Rosa. We all came here together."

Maria then stepped up to Jack and kissed his cheek and then did the same with Rose. "I hope you've been watching out for my boy, Jack Dawson," she said.

"I have," Jack assured her. "Though he also looked out for me a lot as well. If it hadn't been for him and his good advice I probably wouldn't have my bella Rosa here with me right now. And for that I am forever thankful."

Maria then glanced over at Fabrizo who just smiled and blushed modestly. Then she looked back to Rose and said, "Jack Dawson is certainly a very fortunato man to have you as his wife. You truly are a bella of a Rosa if ever there was one."

"Thank you," Rose said blushing. "And please just call me Rose."

"And," Fabrizio added gesturing toward the baby carriages, "this is Josie, Jack and Rose's baby, and this is Antonio, me and Helga's."

Tears came to Maria's eyes at the mention of Antonio's name. Fabrizio smiled as he carefully picked up Antonio and handed him to her to hold. As she held him she gazed warmly into his tiny chubby face and said, "For a while I had wondered if I would ever live to myself as having a grandchild. Now I see you have given me one in the same way I gave life to you, in the deepest of love and of hope."

Fabrizio smiled and nodded. Then he picked up Josie and said, "Me and Helga are Josie's godparents through the kindness of the Dawsons. So you may consider her as your grandchild too if you wish."

Maria then held Josie and Antonio together. "This is more than I ever could have wished for," she said emotionally. "I can tell these two bambinos will grow up together in the best way."

They then went back to their apartment building where Fabrizio showed Maria into her apartment which they had secured for her just prior to her arriving. And there he told her all about his adventures in traveling Europe with Jack, and also of their fateful voyage on the Titanic including the sinking, and how he had come to America with Jack and Rose and been reunited with Helga a few weeks later.

Throughout his tale her expression kept changing through many different emotions. Now they settled on a mixture of love and pride and awe.

"I realize I could have lost you to the sinking of the Titanic," she said with her voice quivering. "But it was your love for life, and your Papa's love for it if it is true that you saw him that night."

"I don't know if I really did or not," Fabrizio admitted. "Yet, my heart seems to tell me that I did as I don't know how I could have had the will to live any other way."

"I am also proud of you for sticking by your best friend's side and supporting him in his wedding la bella Rosa, even if you were separated from Helga at the time," Maria added.

"I knew that was what I should do, and after all Jack made me his best man," Fabrizio said humbly. "And besides, I knew I'd find Helga again soon."

Just then Maria looked as if she just remembered something very important. "Mamma Mia! I almost forgot." She reached down and picked up a large trunk she had carried with her off of the ship. She opened it and took out some folded clothes of hers and then reached deep into the bottom of it and pulled out something which Fabrizio instantly recognized that brought back so many fond memories.

It was the ceramic angel that looked like Maria when she was younger playing a mandolin with a cherub that looked like Fabrizio as a baby playing a harp. Fabrizio had had it from the time he was five years old and had regretfully decided to leave it behind him when he left home. He remembered all the times when he had listened to the music it played and it had comforted him through hard times.

"I thought you would want this back," Maria said as she handed it to him.

Fabrzio speechlessly took the angel from her. Turning it over he turned the tiny key in it and listened as the familiar little tune began to play. He smiled as the song filled him with the sweetest memories of his childhood. Then he suddenly had an idea.

"Grazie, Mama," he said. "I know someone who will love to have this angel as a gift."

And so he went back to his and Helga's apartment where Helga had just finished nursing Antonio and was now tucking him into his crib for his nap. He smiled as he silently set the angel down onto the nightstand beside the crib after he turned the key again so that the little melody played and lulled and soothed the baby to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

_December 1, 1913_

The Dawsons were at the De Rossi's having dinner with them. Jack said, "Rose and I have decided to go to see _A Christmas Carol_ this weekend while it's playing at the local theater. We wanted to ask if you two would like to come with us."

"The theater sounds delightful," said Helga. "But I've never heard of this _A Christmas Carol_ story."

"Me neither," added Fabrizio.

"Well, it's about this old English guy named Ebenezer Scrooge," Jack explained, "who hates Christmas and then he is visited by three spirits that are of his past, present, and future, and then he repents."

"It sounds like something I'd love to see," said Fabrizio.

"And I," added Helga. "We'd love to go with you."

"I'm glad you do," said Jack. "I was told all the costs for the tickets that are sold for it will be going to buy presents for children at the orphanage this year."

"That really is a worthy cause," said Fabrizio.

So that weekend the De Rossis went with the Dawsons to the theater and saw the production of A Christmas Carol while Fabrizio's Mama stayed at home to look after their babies.

As they were coming out of the theater at the end of the performance Fabrizio was smiling as he said, "I loved it! It was so unlike anything I'd ever seen before! Fantistico!"

"I loved it, too," said Helga. "Only one thing is I wonder if Jacob Marley was freed from his chains for saving his friend from the same fate."

"I'd always wondered about that myself," said Jack. "And I suppose he would be set free after what he did to save his friend's future."

"I think I'd like to become an actress in this theater someday," said Rose in a dreamy voice. "They always seem to put on the best shows with the best of talents."

"I believe you can make your dream come true, Rose," said Jack smiling at her, "and I'll help you make it happen."

"Seeing that little boy called tiny Tim reminded me of a boy I once met at work who had a crippled leg," Fabrizio said. "I had to convince the doctors there to let him and his family in before they did. Now I wonder how they are doing now at this time of year."

"Perhaps you could go and check on them to see," suggested Helga.

"I will," said Fabrizio.

It was just then that they were passing by a series of shops and stores. There was a piano in one of the windows. It wasn't very big or fancy looking at all. But it still caught Helga's attention.

"Look at that piano in the window," she said pointing towards it. "It's so beautiful. I'd always wanted to learn to play the piano when I was a child."

"I remember taking a few lessons when I was younger," said Rose. "If we had a piano in our apartment I would gladly teach you how to play."

Helga sighed wistfully. "If only we could afford it."

The words of Rose and Helga stayed with Fabrizio. He wanted to make them happy and he decided he would take a few extra hours at each of his jobs to be able to purchase the piano for them by Christmas.

Later that day he visited with the family from Bosnia with the boy who had been crippled when they came into the States.

"Bouna sera," he greeted cordially. "Remember me? I helped you to find a home when you first came over. I was thinking about you and I wanted to know how you are doing at this time of year."

"We are doing quite well now, thanks to you, and a good doctor by the name of Redfield who helped us to identify our son's condition and thus be able to heal it," replied the mother as she held their new baby girl in her arms. "He is near to well again and now we're even able to send him to school."

"I am so glad to hear that," said Fabrizio. "I have a son of my own now, and he is my life. I would like for you to come to my home and see him someday."

"We would love to," said the father. "Merry Christmas to you and your family."

"Merry Christmas to you too," Fabrizio smiled.

Then as the days wore on and soon turned to weeks Fabrizio began nearly consuming himself in his duties of both his jobs to be able to get his family the piano that they desired to have. As the time went by he began arriving home later and later until he was barely there in time for dinner.

Then finally one evening, just after they had had dinner, Helga put away the dishes and then turned to face him with a rather unnerving expression.

"Fabrizio, we have to have a talk now," she said.

"About what?" he asked.

"About how you are hardly ever home these days," she continued, "I worry about you."

"There is no need to worry about me," he said reassuringly. "It is just I am having to do two jobs in a day and they are very important ones so I must get them done. But I will always come home for you by dinnertime."

"You almost didn't make it this time," she said with an air of frustration. "I'm almost beginning to wonder if you enjoy your jobs away from home more than you enjoy being with your family."

Fabrizio gave her a very surprised look as he said, "No, Helga. That is not true. You are my life, you and baby Antonio are. I couldn't live without you two. I just have to work so much because I want to make you both happy."

Helga sighed and said, "Well, couldn't you at least try to find an assistant or someone like that for one of your jobs. I do appreciate your wanting to make a good living for us, but I'd also appreciate it if I could spend more time with you."

Fabrizio gave her a look of unhappiness before he said softly, "Then I will try to find one."

The next day as he went to his first job at Immigration he thought about what Helga had said to him the night before and he realized how right she really was. Though he still really wanted to get them the piano and so as soon as he could he checked his wages and to his surprise he found he had a little over the amount he needed to get the piano already.

Then at his second job at the homeless shelter he found the young American man who's name was Tony who he had encouraged to be with the young Russian girl who had brought in a few months ago and said,

"You are a good man, Tony. I see how you like to help people around here all the time. And so I'd like to ask you if you would be so kind as to take my job here for half the time. You see, I feel I want to be with my family more often, and also if you were to take this job you could be starting on building for your family."

Tony was delighted. "I'd be honored, Mr. De Rossi. Really honored."

So then Fabrizio arrived home a few hours earlier than he had been for the past few weeks and when he did he told Helga the good news.

"That is wonderful, Fabri!" she said. "And I am sorry if I was maybe to hard on you last night."

"Oh no, no," he assured her. "You have nothing to be sorry about. You were right, you see."

Then when Christmas day arrived a few days later, the piano that he had purchased just in time was delivered to their apartment.

"Oh my goodness! Fabri, you got the piano!" exclaimed Helga when she saw it in the living room. "SO this was the reason you were working overtime."

Fabrizio nodded humbly. "Anything for you, mio amore,"

Then the Dawsons looked on as Helga gave Fabrizo a passionate kiss.

"Well, now hat are we waiting for?" said Jack. "Let's make some beautiful music together!"

So then Helga and Rose sat down on the bench by the piano and Rose began to teach Helga how to play a few Christmas tunes such as _Deck the Halls_ and _Jingle Bells_. It was once again a very happy Christmas for all of them.


	10. Chapter 10

_June 20, 1914._

Antonio was now ten months, almost a year old. Fabrizio and Helga had recently began attempting to teach him how to walk and talk, and also to start eating new foods having just put him on drinking from a bottle.

This evening Fabrizio was sitting on the floor with Antonio in front of him as he was once again trying to teach him to speak. He tried to in both English and Italian languages as he saw no harm in his son learning the language that he had been brought up with.

"Me... Papa... you... Antonio," he was repeating to him again and again. Though Antonio just looked at him with a curious and slightly puzzled expression.

Fabrizo tried it once again and this time Antonio made a little mumbling sound though it could be far from considered actual words. Yet Fabrizo's face lit up ecstatically when he heard it as he took it as a sign that he was finally beginning to make a bit of progress.

He would have pressed further if not just then there was a knock on their door. He stood and picked up Antonio as Helga came in from the kitchen and answered the door. They found the Dawsons standing behind it with smiles on their faces.

"We have some good news to tell you," Jack said with much enthusiasm.

Helga smiled and said, "How would you like to come in and tell us about it over dinner which is just now ready?"

"Sure," said Jack.

They stepped into the apartment then and headed into the kitchen. Fabrizio put Antonio in his high chair and then took his seat in the chair beside him and Helga.

"I think Antonio is about ready to say his first words," Fabrizio said.

"At his age, are you sure?" asked Jack.

"Si," said Fabrizio.

"In which language, English or Italian?" asked Jack with a teasing smile.

"I'll let him decide it," Fabrizio replied calmly.

"Well, what did you want to tell us that has made you both so happy?" asked Helga.

"Well," Jack began, "you know the little theater in town where we sometimes go to watch a show at? Well, since it has always been Rose's dream to be an actress we finally decided to go down there and have her try out for one of the parts in a play that is about to start. And she got it!"

"Oh my! How wonderful!" said Helga.

"Bravissmo, bella Rosa," said Fabrizio. "What part do you have and in which play?"

"It is the part of Ophelia in the play _Hamlet_ by William Shakespeare," replied Rose happily.

"I don't think I've ever heard of it," said Fabrizio.

"Neither have I," added Helga.

"It is a very classic story," said Rose. "It's sad but it's beautiful just like all of Shakespeare's plays. I'll have to get a copy of it at the library for you."

"Okay," said Fabrizio. "So when does the play start?"

"In about three weeks," said Rose. "I'll have to rehearse for every day if I can."

"We would be honored to be your rehearse audience," said Fabrizo and Helga nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," said Rose.

Then over the next couple of weeks Rose would rehearse her lines in front of Jack and Fabrizio and Helga in either of their living rooms. She had gotten the copy of _Hamlet_ from the library and given it to Helga and Fabrizio to read. Fabrizio had found it to be too sad for his liking though he encouraged Rose to do her very best at the part of Ophelia.

One evening after Rose had recited all of her lines in the play and after everyone had applauded her on them, Jack left to go feed Josie and Helga left also to go change Antonio. Fabrizio was left alone with Rose.

"You were magnifico, bella Rosa," he said to her. "Brava."

"Thank you," Rose said. "I can hardly wait for when the actual play begins. Oh, if my Mother could see me now. I'm sure she'd have a fit of rage." Rose laughed gaily.

Fabrizio frowned slightly as he asked, "But why would she? Wouldn't she be as happy for you as we are?"

"No, I'm sure she wouldn't," asserted Rose. "Because as far back as I can remember she has dismissed and daunted all of my hopes and dreams for myself. She just wanted for me to be a proper lady like her, or so she called herself, and to find a suitable husband which she believed was Cal Hockley when the opposite was true. That was why I had to run away from her to be with Jack. She despised him and now I just want her to be out of my life for good."

Fabrizio looked a bit sad as she spoke. "I remember you telling me before how apart from your mother you were. But now that you and Jack are married you have no reason to fear her or that Cal."

"I know," said Rose. "But my mother was everything I didn't want in life and that I want nothing to do with anymore. Don't you understand?"

"Of course I do," he assured her. "It's just that I can't help but think of how your mother must think you are dead now and how she must be blaming herself for it and be very sorry about everything."

Rose was thoughtful for a moment and then she replied, "Well, she does kind of deserve it. After all, she never treated me like she loved me, at least not in the way she should have and I would have liked. I just wish I had a mother more like yours."

"Well, I was lucky to have my Mama, but you were lucky to have yours too," he said insistently. "I mean, she gave birth to you, didn't she. If she hadn't you wouldn't be here and Jack would never have known you and none of us would be as happy as we are today. And," he added thoughtfully, "come to think of it, if you hadn't been engaged to Cal you wouldn't have got on the Titanic and met any of us. Is that what you would have preferred? No. So, you owe it to your mother for everything."

Rose had looked very thoughtful and reflective as Fabrizio had been speaking to her. And now she said, "Well, I suppose you are right about that, Fabri. But even still I can't quite bring myself to forgive mother for things she said and did. I'm content living without her and I don't really trust her to accept me as I am now, or Jack."

Fabrizio sighed with resignation. "I understand," he said. "These were just some thoughts I had."

Just then Helga and Jack reentered the room and they said their goodnights to each other and left. Fabrizio secretly hoped that somehow Rose would be able to make peace between herself and her mother.

Then a few days later the play opened at the theater. Fabrizio and Helga attended it on opening night wearing the best clothes they had, along with Jack who had brought his sketchpad to draw a few pictures for the paper for when the reviews came out.

At the end everyone was applauding like crazy as Rose and the other actors bowed before the curtains closed. Fabrizio was smiling as he looked over at Jack who was looking so pleased and proud.

Then a few days later, Fabrizio was once again attempting to teach Antonio to walk. He bent down and set him upright and held his hands out and stepped a little ways away from him and then beckoned for him to come to him. Antonio then took a step, almost stumbled as he usually did. But this time instead of falling to the floor he picked himself up and tottered into Fabrizio's welcoming arms. Fabrizio picked him up and hugged him close as he smiled with pride at his son's first great accomplishment.

Just then there came a knock at the door. He went to answer it and found Rose standing behind it. He at first noticed the slightly watery gaze of her eyes and felt concerned but then he saw her smile happily and he smiled as well.

"What has happened?" he asked.

"Fabri, first I want to tell you that you were right about mother," she began with emotion etched in her face and voice.

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"It just so happened she came into New York for a short stay this week," Rose continued. "And she saw the play. And she recognized me at once. She then found out where we live and that I was married to Jack. She came to our apartment an hour ago. And... we made amends. She also accepted Jack as her son-in-law and also agreed to keep me secret from Cal."

Fabrizio smiled sweetly. "I told you so," was all he could say.


	11. Chapter 11

_August 20, 1914._

It was Antonio's first birthday and to celebrate Fabrizio and Helga were going to Central Park along with the Dawsons to have a picnic with a small cake they had made to celebrate.

It was a beautiful day in the late Summertime as they strolled into Central Park carrying their picnic basket and pushing their baby carriages along. It was warm with a clear sky with plenty of sunshine and a little bit of wind was blowing through the trees.

When they came to a nice open space on the grass they picked it out and laid their blanket on top of it, spreading it out, and then sitting down upon it. They then began taking out the goodies they had brought in their basket which consisted of the cake, and chocolate-chip cookies, and cold chicken, and ham and cheese sandwiches.

As the Dawons and De Rossis ate contentedly they watched their children as Josie and Antonio crawled around on the blanket before them and met with each other and began patting each other's hands together as they cooed and beamed at each other.

Fabrizio smiled as he watched his son and goddaughter playing with each other so happily at such an early age.

"Look at the two of them," he said as he gestured toward them. "So happy to see the other. I wonder if they're falling in love."

The others chuckled at this. "Honestly, Fabri. They're still so young," said Helga.

"You never know though," Fabrizio said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Later that evening the Dawsons had dinner with the De Rossis as well as with Fabrizio's Mama. And afterward they all gathered around the piano in the living room where Rose and Helga took turns playing out various tunes and melodies of songs that everyone variously remembered and they all sang along to their playing. They all sounded good, especially Fabrizio and his mother, and even Jack did though his voice was a bit husky.

As they were playing old folk songs Fabrizio was noticing Antonio and Josie as they sat on the sofa beside them and smiled and wriggled to the rhythm of their piano playing and singing. A few times he also heard them chirp out a few of the words to the various songs they were singing to. He felt so very impressed with them both.

Antonio as it happened had finally spoken his first word a month and a half ago. It had been at breakfast as Fabrizio was feeding him with a spoon when in between mouthfuls he had squeaked out, "Papa!" Fabrizio had instantly become ecstatic about his son's achievement and had made it very noticeable to everyone. And now he was learning more and more words as was Josie and the two of them when they sometimes met with each other would speak the other's names with Antonio saying 'Josie', and Josie saying ''Tonio'.

After they had been playing songs on the piano and singing along to them for about a hour they began to grow a bit tired and so they said their goodnights to each other and put their children in their cribs first and then turned in for the night.

It was later that night when they were both awakened to both the sound of the rain and the thunder outside of their apartment and to the sound of Antonio's loud wails and cries of fright.

Helga started to get out of bed at once but then Fabrizio put a hand on her arm and said softly, "You just lay down again. I'll go and take care of him."

And that is just what he did. He went into the next room and picked up Antonio from his crib and rocked him in his arms as he whispered soothingly to him.

"Come, stop your crying. It will be alright." He held him in a protective embrace against his chest as he continued to rock and whisper to him.

He went into the living room and sat down in a chair where he continued to rock Antonio as soothingly as he could. He then began to sing a light little song in Italian to him which he called his parents singing for him when he got scared like this.

By and by Antonio's cries and wails grew lesser and then ceased completely as his eyes closed and he fell asleep in his father's lap.

Fabrizio smiled with love, joy, and contentment as he gazed upon his baby son in his arms, and in spite of the still crashing rain and thunder outside all he could hear was was his son's breathing and heartbeat.

_Here in my arms lies a world of possibilities,_ he thought to himself. He looked at Antonio's little hands and wondered if one day they would be strong and gentle like his own and be able to heal hurting. He looked at his little feet and wondered if one day they would be able to run very fast. He remembered how he had been singing along with them earlier and wondered if his voice would grow into a singer's. He thought about seeing him with Josie and wondered if perhaps one day his heart would find love with her own.

_Only time will tell_, he thought as he tenderly laid Antonio down into his crib once again.


	12. Chapter 12

A few days after Antonio's first birthday Helga began to experience things like mood swings, and overly tiredness in which she found it difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, and also she developed an appetite for strange food choices. Then she started being sick in the mornings before breakfast. Fabrizio remembered her as being this way before and he hoped it meant what he thought it did and to make sure of it he had Helga go see their doctor.

"He said it's true!" Helga exclaimed excitedly when she came home just after her visit with the doctor. "We are going to have a another baby!"

Fabrizio became instantly ecstatic. He reached out and embraced Helga and nearly lifted her off of her feet in his excitement. "Antonio will have a playmate!" he exclaimed delightedly. He was happy that his son would get to experience something he didn't have when he was growing up.

"Oh dear," said Helga suddenly. "Will we have enough room for another addition to the family here? As well as enough to support another one?"

Fabrizio knew what she meant and he smiled with reassurance. "Of course we will," he said tenderly. "And if things get to be harder to we can always find a bigger apartment."

"Yes, you're right," Helga said smiling. "And anyways, we will always be welcome to a new addition to our family. Let us tell the Dawsons about it at dinner tonight."

And so they did and the Dawsons were just as excited for them as they were themselves.

"Rose and I want to have more children also," Jack said. "Being raised as an only child myself, and I don't think me and Rose could ever have too many children."

"Honestly, Jack!" Rose said with a laugh.

Helga's cravings for strange food helpings became more frequent and at times even stranger. She would have them at any time, including during the nighttime. It was on one night in late October that she woke up Fabrizio shortly after they had gone to bed and mentioned her irresistible craving for some chocolate ice cream with dill pickles. Fabrizio smiled with understanding as he got out of bed and redressed and went to get her what she wanted.

It was quite dark outside except for the stars and a night quite full moon overhead with the addition of a few street lamps. It was also fairly chilly and so he was wearing his new long coat. The streets appeared to be deserted at this hour as he had been expecting.

He was halfway to his destination however when suddenly heard loud thumping sounds coming from behind a dark alley beside him. These were followed quickly by high pitched yelps of pain and agony. His senses picked up what was going on quite quickly. Someone nearby was being tortured.

He then rushed into the alley. It was nearly pitched dark in there and he could just barely make out a few silhouettes of tall men standing in a corner and kicking and thrashing at someone on the ground before them. He stood still a few moments in shock and horror. Then he saw the men turn around and leave the alley and their victim behind them. He then cautiously approached the victim in question and when he was close enough he knelt beside him.

He began feeling all over his body and found tears in his clothing and felt scrapes and bruises beneath them. He found the wrist of his left hand and felt for a pulse and to his immense relief it was there. He looked at his face and as dark as it was he could still see that he had two black eyes and a badly bleeding nose and upper lip.

He could feel his heart breaking with sympathy for this poor stranger as he tried to gently sit him upright and whispered gently to him, "Come with me, I'll help you."

The stranger suddenly regained consciousness as he wriggled and squirmed in Fabrizio's hold on him and cried out in a masculine voice that was cracking with abject fear and terror, "No! Please have mercy on me!"

"Shh..." Fabrizio whispered to quiet him and said, "I am here to help you, not to hurt you. Come with me, we must get you to a hospital."

The man resisted no longer though he still trembled and shook quite badly as Fabrizio gently helped him to stand up and he then stumbled on his left leg and his left hand then went to his right side which indicated more injuries that couldn't be seen.

Fabrizo sincerely hoped that the man had nothing broken in him as he carefully helped him to walk the distance to the hospital, all the while he was looking cautiously around the corners of the streets to make sure those men he had previously seen were not in sight of them.

Once they had reached the hospital the man, who's name was Ferdinand Larizo, was taken at onc einto the emergency room and then placed an the care of the doctors and nurses. It turned out that in addition to his many cuts and brusies he also had a few bruised bone in various places but none had been broken.

Fabrizio stayed with him for a few minutes, just long enough to learn what had actually happened to him. He had been coming home a bit earlier after his work which happened to be at odd hours and then from out of nowhere a group of large men had dragged him away and had beaten him up for no apparent reason or provocation.

"I really thought I was going to die out there," he said in conclusion to his story.

"Why were you so afraid of me when I first came to you?" Fabrizio inquired.

"Because you have an Italian accent, and so did they," Ferdinand replied in a quivering voice.

"They did!?" Fabrizio was quite shocked.

Ferdinand nodded and said, "I think they must have been members of the Mafia."

"What is that?" asked Fabrizio.

Then Ferdinand explained to him about how the Mafia was a comprisation of immigrants from Italy and their descendants who had formed a large violent gang.

Fabrizio was really quite shocked to hear of such brutality coming from people of his nationality, especially of immigrants who had come here like he did. He couldn't imagine why they find any value in hurting others as he certainly did not.

He then remembered about his previous reason for coming out tonight and said goodbye to Ferdinand.

"I hope you will recover very soon," he told him just before he left. "And then you can come visit me at my apartment and meet my family."

He then went to the nearest grocery store and got the ice cream and pickles for Helga. When he returned home and gave them to her she asked him what had taken him so long and he explained to her about everything.

"I just don't understand why people who come from where I come from could do things like that," he said after he had told her everything.

"Well," said Helga thoughtfully as she munched on a pickle dipped in ice cream, "maybe they just lost their way in the world."

Fabrizio then realized just how lucky he had been to have Jack and Rose with him when he had arrived in America, as well as Helga whom he gave all his support to.


	13. Chapter 13

_February 9, 1912_

"Fabri," Jack gently shook Fabrizio's arm to awaken him.

"Mmm..." Fabri mumbled, blinking as he awakened from his slumber. "What is it, Jack?"

"The train is slowing down. We'll be jumping into the next town soon," Jack explained as he gathered his belongings.

The previous evening, Jack and Fabrizio had secretly climbed aboard a train, hiding in the baggage car. They had slept on baggage shelves and Fabrizio rubbed his eyes and grabbed his belongings as he climbed carefully off of his.

He and Jack went over to the door of the train car and pushed it open and saw the sun rising in a blue and pink sky above London town which they could see houses and structures of in the distance as the train was slowly arriving at its destination.

Fabrizio stood very close to Jack at the edge of the door and clutched onto his bag. He waited a few seconds as he looked at the passing scenery and wondered how London would be like and what kind of new adventure awaited them there.

Then Jack counted, "One... two... three... Geronimo!" Fabrizio jumped with him from the train. They each landed on their feet, close together, in the white, white snow.

"Well, that was a lovely ride," Jack said gaily.

They walked forward into the town. After a short while, fresh snow began to fall. "It's snowing, Fabri. Let's look for shelter," said Jack.

"Look, there's a theater," said Fabrizio as he gestured to an old theater that was in sight of them.

The theater was not very tall and was built with dark colored bricks and snow was decorating the roof and windowsills. A large sign was placed above the door which read in large, white letters,

JULES AND WILSON'S CLASSIC THEATER.

"I see it, Fabri. It says, Closed For Repairs," said Jack as he read the sign that had been placed upon the door.

They walked around to the back of the theater. "Look, the back door is 'a open," said Fabrizio as he noticed it. "Let's see if we can 'a go inside."

They stepped cautiously to the edge of the door, where Jack took hold of it and they peered inside to find a dimly lit storage room.

Looking around, they seemed to find no one inside, so they stepped quietly inside and out of the snowy cold weather, leaving the door a few inches open as they entered.

"Ah... look what we have here, eh?" Jack murmured as he looked at their surroundings.

They were now inside a somewhat darkened room which dozens and dozens of props, and costumes, and masks, and old sets from plays of the past that took place in the theater. Looking around, they saw costumes that were simple, or fancy, or ones designed to look like animals; They saw masks of animals, fantasy creatures, and other things; they saw big cardboard structures of things that looked either, dark, bright, or mysterious.

"Mama Mia," Fabrizio murmured as he examined a mask that had been made to look like a minotaur. It looked so real.

"Fabri, look!" said Jack as he put on a silver knight's helmet which he had found. "I'm Sir Jack of Dawson!" he declared happily as he posed with it on.

Fabrizio smiled and laughed with his friend, then he looked around for something he could try on himself. He found a rainbow colored jester's hat with bells jingling on the tips. He put it on over his own hat. "Look! I'm 'a funny, no?" he said giggling as the bells jingled rhythmically.

"You always were funny," Jack assured him good-naturedly.

They continued to look around for other things they'd like to try on. Jack found an Indian headdress. Fabrizio found the head of a costume of a large, purple dog. Jack put on a gold crown studded with jewels, and then Fabrizio even found a pair of angel wings to try on.

Fabrizio searched for something else and found a white sailor's cap. He looked around for Jack and couldn't find him, then suddenly he leapt out from behind a pile of boxes wearing an ugly, green, wrinkled mask. Startled, Fabrizio jumped backwards.

"Hey Jack, no fair!" he said, though he rather enjoyed it just the same "You so very funny!" He laughed.

Jack removed the ugly mask and looked into one of the boxes and found a wide brimmed hat and a sword. "Look, I'm a musketeer!" he declared as he handed Fabrizio another hat and sword.

Fabrizio took them and soon they began to playfully sword-fight with each other. They had so much fun they soon warmed themselves from the coldness they'd felt outside.

After they had played for a little while, they suddenly heard a tapping noise from behind them. Ending their game, they turned and found a rather elderly man standing before them.

"Hello," said Jack as he removed his hat. "Are you the owner of around here?"

The man stood at six foot, one and held a gold-headed cane in his right hand. He wore rimmed spectacles, and had gray hair with a shaved off beard. When he spoke it was with a thick English accent. "I'm Alistair Rosin I am indeed the owner of this classical theater. Although that might not last or much longer. Now if I may inquire, why were you playing around with old props?"

Fabrizio smiled rather sheepishly as he explained. "We needed out of the cold. We thought no one was in here, so we went inside and we find these," he gestured to indicate all the props. "And we had to play, it warmed us."

The owner gave them an understanding smile and said, "That is quite all right. Now if you will come with me, I shall show you two around."

So Jack and Fabrizio laid their musketeer hats and swords aside as they followed Mr. Rosin eagerly as he led them into the main area of his theater.

"This theater, you see, is my life," he said as he led them onward. "I am the third generation of Rosins to own it. We used to be the most renowned theater in all of London. People came from all around to see our shows, we sold out practically every night. However, in the last few years we have sadly gone downward." He sighed regretfully before he continued. "Then, at around Christmas in last December, one of our best actors who was playing an angel got his leg badly injured when something went wrong as he was being suspended in air by wire."

"Oh no! That is 'a too bad," Fabrizio said, for the very thought of something like that made his heart break.

"It was indeed, with the audience watching and everything. I hear that he will be all right though," Mr. Rosin assured them. "It was then that the theater was closed, though just until all the repairs have been made to the settings, which were the cause of the man's injury. Hopefully, it will all be done before the thirteenth."

"Why before then?" asked Fabrizio curiously.

"Well, some theater people are very superstitious," Mr. Rosin explained. "In fact, a few of the actors and staff quit after the accident occurred. "

Fabrizio whispered to Jack for a moment. Jack nodded and then looked toward Mr. Rosin and said, "Me and Fabri could try to get the sets fixed sooner, if you'd let us."

Mr. Rosin seemed rather surprised. "Well, I certainly appreciate the offer, though are you really sure about it? After all, this theater needs a lot of repairing. It's old, as I am, and seen better days."

"If it means saving your theater, then yes," said Jack with much feeling.

"Me and Jack always 'a traveling," said Fabrizio. "We work for where we go, and we love to make you happy in return."

Mr. Rosin smiled. "I'm glad to hear that," he said warmly. "It would truly break my heart if this theater were closed down, for it is my life, you see."

So he led them to backstage and giving them the proper tools said, "Just do your best."

And they did. They spent the next hours hammering, and sawing, and painting, and organizing. All with teamwork, or "team-a-work" as Fabrizio pronounced it.

It was many hours later when two young women entered. One was tall and slender with long auburn ringlets and wore a long red dress and black shoes. The other was shorter and had straight brown hair and wore a blue dress with matching blue slippers.

"Are you the new set builders?" the tall one asked, seeing them.

"No, not really," said Jack as he put one more board into place. "We were just passing through and found this place needed repairs."

Fabrizio skipped over to them and flashed them a big smile as he said, "He's Jack and I'm Fabrizio. We're wandering until we find 'a our way to America."

The shorter one smiled and said, "I'm Amy and this is Ella. We're actresses here and have come for our rehearsal. It was nice meeting you."

"Ciao," said, and waved as the girls went to find their dressing rooms.

A little while later, Mr. Rosin came back and said, "You have done enough. I'm impressed with all you've done, and you may rest now. As a matter of fact, you may also stay and watch the rehearsal of our new show if you wish."

"I'd love to," said Fabrizio, remembering the actresses they had met.

"So would I," said Jack. "Is there anything we could do for you before then?"

Mr. Rosin thought for a second then said, "Well, you could bring the actors their new costumes, which are just now ready. Our seamstress, Mrs. Smith has them."

So Jack and Fabrizio went to Mrs. Smith and gathered the costumes along with information of where to take them.

They went to the first door in the hall and knocked.

"Come in," said a deep male voice.

They opened the door and found a man of tall stature with a dark complexion and very thin black hair standing in front of them and smiling.

"We're Jack and Fabrizio. We've brought you your costume," said Jack as he picked out the man's costume, which was all dark.

"So I see," said the man, seeming almost amused. "I'm Keith Zenth. I've been with this theater for thirty years, and I now have a son in it as well. His name is Gavin and he is the hero in the play."

"That is 'a wonderful," said Fabrizio. "You must 'a be so proud."

"I am, believe me," said Mr. Zenth. "As for me, I play the villain. I always play the villain, it's my specialty, though it does get rather boring."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Jack sympathetically. "Maybe in the next play you'll be something different."

"Well, I'd like to think so," said Mr. Zenth a bit doubtfully.

"In bocca al lupo!" Fabrizio smiled as he wished him luck as he and Jack closed the door

They went to the very next door and knocked.

"Come in," said a young male voice.

They opened the door and found a young man their age. He had very dark brown hair, almost black, and hazel eyes, and he was rather muscular.

"We bring 'a you your costume," said Fabrizio smiling.

"So I see," he said as he took it. "I'm Gavin Zenth. Jolly good," he introduced himself.

"We've just heard about you from your father," said Jack, who was delighted.

Gavin smiled knowingly. "So then you know I'm the hero of the play. I'm rather proud of that. As the hero, I will strive to prove my love for a royal princess. I wish I could be able to do so in real life, to Amy, who happens to be the princess in the play."

"Really?" Fabrizio asked as he gasped happily, for he thought it just remarkable.

"It's true," Gavin sighed wistfully. "I've fancied her ever since I first came here. She's been her longer than me, by the way. Before our last play I gave her flowers, though I don't know if she really notices me."

"Ah... amore is 'a so nice," Fabrizio murmured dreamily.

Jack and Fabrizio left then and went a few doors to the right to one which had a star drawn upon it. They knocked.

"Come in," said a young female voice.

They opened the door and found Amy, whom they had met just a little while ago, sitting in a chair in front of a dressing mirror. Her face wore a rather bleak expression, though when she saw them she gave them a weak smile.

"Buona sera, Amy," Fabrizio greeted happily.

"So you'll be playing the royal princess," said Jack as he handed her her costume, which was a rather large and old-fashioned pink dress made entirely of silk.

"Yes," Amy said with a sigh as she took the dress. "So it seems."

"Why is it you no seem happy about that?" Fabrizio asked very gently. He never liked for anyone to be unhappy.

Amy looked at them sadly and hesitated.

"You can trust us with it," Jack assured her kindly. "We wouldn't tell a soul."

Amy smiled then sighed. "I am in the theater as a tradition for my family, and it isn't that I don't like it, I love it, it's just that I've never been the star of the play before and now I don't know if I'm really special enough to be a royal princess. I have so many relatives to live up to, and I'm afraid of letting them down, and I have no one to really turn to."

Fabrizio saw tears gathering between her eyelids and he really felt for her. "I believe you could be a royal princess if you really believed," he said sincerely. "You can be anything you may want to be, as my mama always said."

Jack nodded. "And there is someone who cares about you. Gavin does. We just met him and he cares very much."

Amy smiled as she looked toward the flowers in the vase that was set on top of her dressing table amidst the framed pictures. "And I care for him a lot as well," she murmured softly.

Amy felt much better then and thanked Jack and Fabri as they left her to prepare for the rehearsal.

It was a short while later when they sat in two seats in the front row and watched the rehearsal along with Mr. Rosin

They watched as Amy and Gavin recited their lines upon the stage. They could see their affection for one another shining through their acting.

"Lyle! How brave of you to come!"

"Anything was worth it just to be with you, dear Elsie."

"You mustn't stay long. If he finds you he'll set the dragon loose."

"I know, but for you I would slay a million dragons."

"Lyle, I love you with all my heart."

"Just as I love you. That is why I've come, to let you know of my plans to rescue you."

Mr. Rosin told them how he felt the play was sure to be a success, and that it might not have been made possible if it hadn't been for them. He paid them a generous thirty pounds for all they had done.


	14. Chapter 14

A year and a half since the birth of Helenne Mary had gone by. Antonio had taken quite well to welcoming his sister into the world. He would gesture to her and say "Baby!" when he saw her again. Then when Antonio's third birthday came around he had taken to liking to have stories read to him and so Fabrizio had been sure to purchase various children's storybooks for him. These included _Mother Goose, Father Goose_, and _Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm_.

The days grew shorter and colder and then before they knew it it was Christmastime once again. Antonio had learned the story of Santa Claus after his parents had read him _The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus _and had since been ecstatic about the promise of his receiving presents on Christmas morning.

Fabrizo was frequently cheerful at his jobs as he always was at this time of year. He also met with many new immigrants from around the world who wished him a Merry Christmas in different languages when they parted ways after he had got them settled in. Then, of course, there were also some people who came to see him who had never even heard of Christmas and so he would give them a brief but detailed description of his understanding of it.

"Well," said one Chinaman he had met with, "I was raised to practice Buddhism and I don't think I will ever want to give it up for anything even a change in living conditions."

Fabrizio had smiled with understanding and said, "Of course, and you are more than welcome to here as this is the Land of the Free after all. I myself was raised in _Italia_ with Christmas traditions that are different from ones around here but I still practice them."

The Chinaman had smiled and replied, "That is comforting to hear. I also hope to be able to adapt to some new ways here as well as bring some of my own traditions to everyone here."

"What kind of traditions?" asked Fabrizio.

"Well," he replied, "Have you ever tasted Chinese food?"

"No, I haven't," replied Fabrizio.

"Exactly," replied the Chinaman. "And neither have hundreds of others living around here. And so I wish to take it upon myself to start my own restaurant as soon as I can."

"Sounds like a very good idea," said Fabrizio encouragingly. "I'll be sure to check it out as soon as you start it and I'll bring my family."

Then when he went to his next job at the homeless center he spent of his time there helping everyone to decorate the place for the season with wreaths, bells, holly, tinsel, and streamers. They also were able to put up a tree for this year and Fabrizio was given the honor of putting the finishing touch on top of it, which was the shining glass star.

Then after the lights had been turned on the tree had been turned and everyone applauded, Fabrizio went about serving lunch around the tables. It was then that he learned that his friend Tony McCoy and Anastia Moskovitz were to be married soon and afterward they would be living in an apartment of their very own. Fabrizio was very happy for them and congratulated them both.

"I knew the moment I saw you two together you were meant for each other," he told them smiling from ear to ear.

"We would like you to have the honor of being our best man," said Tony, "because if it hadn't been for your encouragement and your generosity we wouldn't have met or been able to get together."

Fabrizo then happily accepted the honor of being their best man. He then went home where he found Helga, and the Dawsons sitting together in their living room and playing with their children along with his Mama.

"Papa!" Antonio exclaimed the moment he saw him and rushed toward him with his arms out.

Fabrizio smiled as he held out his hands to the toddler and picked him up and hugged him.

"Tell me again, about Santa Claus, please?" Antonio begged eagerly.

And so Fabrizio then told him the outline of the story of Santa Claus he had read to him a few nights ago and ended it with the promise of his getting anything he wanted on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve came soon and Fabrzio and Helga put Antonio and Helenne to bed earlier that evening and then they went quietly into the living room and placed the presents they had bought for them under their tree as well as some cookies and candies in their stockings.

Then bright and early the very next morning Fabrizio and Helga found themselves being awakened by none other than their three-year-old bundle of energy as he leaped onto their bed and began bouncing up and down exclaiming, "Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!"

Fabrizio woke up and caught Antonio in his arms and said, "Si, Christmas is here!" He then begna tickling him all over causing him to wriggle and squeal with laughter.

"I love you, Papa!" said Antonio.

"I love you more," Fabrizio said to him.

They then went into the living room where Antonio raced to the tree and then dived for the line of brightly wrapped presents that were scattered under it. He tore open the paper wrappings and found toys such as a teddy bear, a wooden boat, and a coloring book with a box of crayons. He made his excitement of all the gifts known quite well to everyone as he ran all around them laughing and squealing and jumping up an down.

"He is just like you," Jack and said to Fabrizio when he and Rose came over and saw the raucous.

"Like father like son," Helga added affectionately.

Their present to Helenne was a simple doll with a blue and white checkered dress and black button eyes. She seemed to instantly become attached to it as she clutched at it very tightly and didn't ever seem to let go of it.

It was a week later on New Years Eve when the Dawsons and De Rossi's went down to a nightclub for a party at which they spent most of their time dancing to different music which was from various countries, one of them including Ireland.

They sat around a table and poured rich champagne into long glasses and then clinked them together as they toasted to a new year.

Fabrizio thought about all of the wonderful and happy things that had happened to him since he had come to America and he sincerely hoped there would be many more in the coming new year, not just for him but for Helga, their children, the Dawsons, as well as everyone else they knew and loved.


	15. Chapter 15

_April 6, 1917._

Fabrizio and Helga were sitting next to each other on the sofa. Each were at a loss for what to say to each other, or even what to think. Not that there was really much to say or think about anyway. They had just read in the paper this morning about how President Woodrow Wilson had declared war on Germany and thus bringing the United States into the war that was going on in the rest of the world.

Fabrizio knew he was going to have to enlist in the war sometime very soon. His heart was telling it was not only the right thing to do but that it was also the only thing he could do now. He always felt he could trust his heart to tell him the right thing to do and after all America and Italy were allies in this war and they were both also his homelands so to join in the fight for them both would only be the honorable and loyal thing to do. He was an American citizen as certainly as he was a native Italian.

And yet, at the same time as his heart was telling him this, there was also a voice in his mind that was telling him he should also be thinking about Helga and their children and be concerned as to what could happen to them should he go away to fight in the war, and the possibility of his not coming back to them alive. The thought of this was so painfully unbearable he wanted so much to just ignore it and push it aside, and yet he was finding this to be impossible to do as it was as real and truthful as what his heart was telling would be the right thing to do.

He looked over at Helga and he could tell easily that she was experiencing the very same emotional conflict that he was now. She looked so lost and beside herself he wanted to just take her in his arms and hold and kiss her and take away her worries. And yet he didn't know how he could manage to do this as he could take away his own worries.

Slowly he reached his hand towards hers and started opening his mouth to speak. "Helga..." he began very slowly and found he couldn't get any further than that.

Then Helga reached over and clasped his hand in her own as she looked into his eyes and said in a surprisingly strong and steadfast voice, "Fabrizio, I want you to know that whatever you decided I know will be the right decision and I will give you my full support in it."

Then a moment of silence passed between them and then Helga sighed quietly and said. "I think I should go over to the Dawsons now. I'll be back shortly."

And so saying she released his hand and got up and left through the door. Fabrizio was then left beside himself with inner turmoil. He knew Helga had gone to visit the Dawsons to see how they were handling this unexpected turn of events themselves as well as to leave him to sort things out by himself, after all this had to be his decision and no one else's.

He sighed as he sat back and tried to think about it. Then suddenly he heard Antonio's little voice speak up to him.

"Papa, are you sad? You look sad," he said with concern in his eyes and voice.

Fabrizio looked down at his four year old son. He looked so much like himself when he was his age now. And even now he could still hear a bit of a mixed accent in his voice as he had been learning words in three different languages bit by bit. He wanted to smile at him but he found his heart was so heavy now he couldn't manage it. So he just reached down and picked him up and sat him on his knee.

"Papa is a bit sad right now because he thinks he may have to go away for a while soon," he explained softly to him.

"But why?" asked Antonio.

"Because there are some bad things going on in the world right now that are making it hard for people to be happy together and so Papa has to go out there and try his best to make things right again for everyone," Fabrizio explained slowly, speaking his heart.

"Papa, why do people do bad things to others?" asked Antonio.

"I don't know," Fabrizio admitted. "I've never been able to figure out why. I guess it's because they find it hard to get along with others who are different because they can't understand differences very well."

"Is it bad to be different?" asked Antonio.

"No, of course not," Fabrizio assured him. "Being different is what makes us all special. You are so special because you are so... unique... as I've heard it called. You come from two different people who found each other in the same place and loved each other in spite of their differences, and even because of them. I want you to always remember that and be proud of it and who you are."

"I will, Papa," said Antonio. Then after a moment he asked, "Papa, can I go with you when you go away?"

"No, I'm afraid you can't," said Fabrizio very gently and quietly. "Because where I will go will be too dangerous for you to be in and besides Mama will need you here to help her take care of Helenne. You can do that for me, can't you?"

Antonio nodded with his lip trembling slightly. "Si," he said.

"That's my boy," Fabrizio said and hugged Antonio close to him and kissed his face.

Just then the door opened and Fabrizio's Mama came in. He knew at once that she had just heard the news herself. He gently put down Antonio as he said, "Run along now and play with your sister."

Then as Antonio scampered into the next room, Mama came over and sat down beside Fabrizio. She put her arm around him and said tenderly, "Fabri, I just heard about everything. I know you'll want to do what is right. And I also know you must feel very afraid of what you think is right now."

Fabrizio nodded silently. His Mama could always just see right through his heart like a window. "Mama, I love my my country in Italia, and I love my new home here," he said with his voice quavering. "And I also love Helga and Antonio and Helenne. I don't want them to be left without me. But I want to honor both of my homes."

Mama looked at him with an understanding smile and said, "I know you do. I can just imagine your Papa feeling the same way if he had ever been in your place. I know he would want to do what he felt was right too. And he knew sometimes the right things we have to do are not always the easiest ones for us. He had a saying he liked to live by, 'go to where your destiny takes you and you will arrive at where you need to be'. And I know you have a great destiny and that it has already taken you so far. You have made your Papa so proud of you already even if he isn't with us as we'd like him to be anymore. And I know you will continue to make him proud of you in whatever you do and wherever you go." And with that she leaned toward him and kissed his forehead.

Fabrizio managed a faint smile for her now. "You're right, Mama. I think I know what I have to do now."

Just then the door opened again and Helga came back in with the Dawsons following close behind her. She walked up to Fabrizio and asked, "Have you made your decision yet?"

He nodded and said, "Si, and I will make you proud of me. I will go to fight and defend my home and my people and will come back when everything is made right again."

"Do you promise you will come back?" asked Helga.

"I promise," he assured her. "I promise I'll come back and we'll continue our lives together for a long time.

Jack then went up to Fabrizio and said, "I just want to let you know, Fabri, that whatever it is we'll have to go through out there we will get through it together. I'll make sure you come back here in one piece."

Fabrizio smiled and said, "I will make sure you do too.


	16. Chapter 16

_April 12, 1912_

Fabrizio awoke this morning feeling like today was to be a special day.

"_Buon giorno._" Today Fabrizio was waking Jack up.

"Good morning," said Jack, who was used to Fabri's cheerful awakenings.

Fabrizio got dressed, putting on a handsome light brown Italian vest. He often liked to wear this vest when he felt as if he was going to have a great day.

As soon as breakfast had ended, Fabrizio and Jack went outside to the deck as they had the day before, wanting to feel the sunshine and the salty sea air.

As soon as they were on deck Fabrizio found Helga standing at the rail, her long white dress billowing in the wind, the sun playing upon her curls. She was just waiting for him as she looked upon him in delighted recognition, and Fabrizio felt she looked as beautiful in the daylight as in the night.

"Jack, this is Helga," he said quickly as he took her hand. "She hear me sing last 'a _notte_. I promise I see her today, I really like her."

Jack chuckled good-naturedly and said, "You two just go by yourselves, I'll go find more people to sketch."

Fabrizio nodded and took Helga's arm, smiling as they began walking together.

For a while they strolled in silence, Fabrizio felt he already enjoyed Helga's company as much as he enjoyed the sun's rays which he felt against his body. He felt he would like to start a nice conversation with her, he also remembered how she couldn't speak a language he knew last night.

"No Italian? Some little English?" he asked.

Not quite understanding him, Helga smiled and shook her head gently and said, "No. Norwegian only."

Fabrizio kept smiling for languages made little difference to him, and he really never let any differences get in the way of his relationships.

"I remember you from the day I came aboard," he said. "I saw you in the hall, you remember?" he asked hopefully.

Helga nodded and smiled.

Fabrizio thought a moment. He wasn't into telling about himself much. "I was 'a born _Settembre_ tenth," he began. "I have parents who love me and I love them. My papa is gone now, though I still feel him with me and he taught me a lot. I am wearing his hat right now." Fabrizio smiled and continued. "A year later, at Christmas, I met Jack Dawson, who you saw with me. He is my best friend in the whole world. He was a traveling American artist and I wanted to get to America, so I left home and joined him. We had 'a many adventure together ." I love Jack as a brother, and he has never let me down and always has good ideas. In fact, he won us our tickets her in a lucky poker game. Somehow, I will thank him properly."

Helga seemed to be paying completely respectful attention to him as he spoke and every now and then she would nod her head slightly to his words, though he easily sensed she could hardly understand them, she could maybe comprehend give or take a few of them.

"I've dreamed of going to America for long time," said Fabrizio. "And now here I am, on my way!" He spread his arms out to the ocean. "When I get there, I will become a millionaire."

It was then that they reached to bow end of the ship. They stood at the railing, close together and looked out over the ocean.

"Yesterday," said Fabrizio. Me and Jack stood here and watched dolphins," he gestured his hands to make dolphin movements. "And then I saw the Statue of Liberty... out there... looking tiny." He stretched his right arm out with his hand pointing.

Helga looked with him and nodded to where he was pointing and said, "_Amerika! Ja_!"

Fabrizio wasn't sure he was getting anywhere with trying to have a conversation with Helga and so he began to try to think of ways he could entertain her without the use of verbal language. He thought of a few.

He held out both his hands to Helga with the palms facing downward and after a moment she held out her hands in the same way and he brought his hands up to hers and they touched and then he brought his left hand up and touched the top of her own, and then she reached out with her right hand and touched the top of his right one and at the same instance he tapped onto her left hand again, causing her to giggle, and then she tapped onto his left hand again just as he touched onto her right hand again. They kept at this game of red hands for a while which ended with both of them all up in giggles.

Fabrizio was experiencing totally new feelings. As he looked into Helga's crystal blue, smiling eyes he felt like he had found something he needed. He had been told the eyes were the windows to the soul.

"_E ll mare,"_ he murmured soothingly. "The ocean, I... I see it in your eyes. The clear blue of the surface, and from only that I tell you have a warm heart and a kind spirit."

Helga smiled as she gazed deeply into his own warm brown eyes. They continued looking into each other's eyes for a good while before they realized they were both staring.

"You hungry?" asked Fabrizio, rubbing his tummy for he felt a little himself.

Helga nodded.

Fabrizio smiled. "So am I. Come, let's have lunch."

And they did.

Afterward, Fabrizio led Helga by the hand to the steerage common room. He opened the door, and they were greeted instantly by the sounds and sights of people dancing to very lively, wonderful Irish music. A real party was going on. Musicians were playing, people were dancing, or drinking, or just having fun.

Fabrizio grinned and said "Dance with me, _per favor_?"

Helga's face really lit up with delight. "Of course!"

He clasped her hand carefully, as if it were made of porcelain. He wasn't sure what he should do, he had Helga lead him as she put his hand on her waist and took the other one in her hand. They began to sail around the room, completely lost in each other and the fun of the moment.

To his right he noticed Jack smiling at him with a rather "I'm proud of you" expression.

He heard serene piano music begin to play, then he noticed Tommy at the piano, he seemed to be playing just for him. Tommy winked at him.

He clasped her hands which felt as warm as his own. He wondered if this could be the connection his parents had told him about. He felt he could dance with Helga for hours, and so he did. The whole time he was smiling and so was Helga, he could tell that she enjoyed his company.

After hours of dancing, Helga became rather exhausted, so Fabrizio led her to a table where Jack and Tommy were sitting and pulled out a chair for her.

Fabrizio himself wasn't exhausted, in fact he felt as lively and energetic as when they had first began to dance. So, he jumped upon the table and began a solo on his own. It was rather like a mixture of Irish and Italian steps, as he would turn himself around every which way and would kick his legs, and sometimes his arms out. The entire performance length, Tommy kept alternately winking at Jack and laughing, while Helga watched him with awe, amusement, and something which looked like love.

Finally, after a half hour, Fabrizio jumped down from the table, panting as if he couldn't stop. He bowed to his onlookers, then took out his handkerchief from his pants pocket and dabbed at the light sweat on his smiling face with it.

"Bravo, Fabri!" Jack said impressed. "That was just brilliant!"

"I didn't know ya had it in ya, Fabri," Tommy said. "How you learn that dance?"

Fabrizio smiled as he replied with a humble little shrug, "Just from watch other people and lots of practice." He wasn't sure why he did the solo. Maybe to show off his skills, or just to have a little extra fun.

Jack opened his portfolio and said, "You and Helga look so cute together. Won't you let me draw you a portrait?"

"_Si, per favor,"_ said Fabrizio.

Fabrizio sat down right beside Helga and held her hands as Jack sketched away for around ten minutes. When he had finished, he said "Here is my latest artwork," and handed Fabrizio the drawing.

"_Mama mia!"_ Fabrizio gasped happily when he saw it. The portrait truly showed their happiness, and Jack had somehow drawn Helga just as he saw her.

_Is this really me?_ he thought. Jack had made him look so dashing, and had even been able to draw his ever present smile just like it was.

This was the very first time since they'd met that Jack had drawn him and he was just overwhelmed. "_Grazie, ti voglio bene! Molto felicissimo!"_ he cried out as he threw his arms around Jack's neck.

Jack chuckled heartily and patted Fabrizio on the back in a brotherly way. "You're always welcome Fabri," he assured him.

Tommy smiled at the two of them. "I think I'll go to bed now," he said with a slight yawn.

"That's good," said Jack. "I think I'll just go outside for a little while first. I'd like to see the stars."

Fabrizio watched his two go in different directions, the he turned his attention to Helga and said, "Come... I take you to your cabin."

He led Helga to her door and paused a moment as he prepared himself for the goodnight kiss.

_This is my first time, and I must make a good impression,_ he told himself.

He made sure he was letting her lead, and he was gentle as he kissed her back. The kiss lasted for just a moment, but it was exquisite.

Fabrizio smiled sweetly as he murmured "_Grazie, Signora."_

Helga smiled and thanked Fabrizio in her native language for the day they'd spent together, and he couldn't understand the language but he understood her gratitude perfectly.

She closed the door gently, and Fabrizio went back to his own cabin where he waited for Jack.

Jack was gone for a surprisingly long time, and Fabrizio began to get worried.

He was beginning to consider the thought of looking for him, when finally the door opened and Jack came in.

Jack looked completely disheveled. His shoes were untied, and his hair was messier than usual, and his face held a dazed expression.

"Jack, where've you been? What 'a happened?" Fabrizio demanded with concern.

"I'll tell you, though you might not believe it," Jack said.

Fabrizio's smile returned. "Try me."

"Remember yesterday, and the angel that I would never be able to meet?"

Fabrizio nodded curiously.

"I just met her," Jack said, smiling smugly. "I was laying on a deck chair, looking up at the stars, when I hears running feet, I watched her run right by me in a blur as she headed for the stern. I followed her, and saw her climb over the railing. She was going to jump and end her life."

Fabrizio gasped, he had thought she had seemed unhappy, but he didn't think it was that bad.

"I finally convinced her to not jump, I warned her of the freezing water. Then she took my hand and was about to come back over, when her foot got caught and she slipped. I held on to her hand, she was screaming all the way. I finally got her back over, and we both landed rather on top of the other. The crewmen came found us like that and I was arrested."

Fabrizio's eyes became wide with concern.

"Don't worry, she cleared my name. Then her fiancé invited me to dinner tomorrow evening. Her name is Rose Dewitt Bukater."

Fabrizio looked at him, wondering how his best friend could always be so lucky at everything he does.

"I proud of you, Jack," he finally said and smiled.

They each climbed into their bunks to sleep.

Just before going to sleep, he thought to himself, _First, he wins me the ticket to my destiny, then he saves a young woman's life, what next will he to amaze me with?_


	17. Chapter 17

After the long train ride Jack and Fabrizio stepped off the train along with the other new recruits as they were dropped off at Camp Gordon. They headed into the military base where they were signed in and received their serial numbers and were assigned to Company G, 328th Battalion 1st Platoon, 82nd Division.

Fabrizio thought he hadn't seen such a pelting pot of people of a varying nationalities all at one time and place since they had boarded the Titanic as he and Jack headed to their cabin quarters through the throngs of other recruits. They found their assigned cabin and entered finding two young men in it already. They both had very light blonde hair and hazel colored eyes and were equally muscularly built. They each looked identical to the other. They each spoke with an accent that wasn't like any Fabrizio had heard before but was still American if not exactly like Jack's.

"I'm Jack, nice to meet you two," Jack said as they approached them and extended their hands.

"I'm Lyle Kenderson," said the man on the left. "This is my brother Leonard. We're twins as you can see."

"That's a relief. For a moment there I'd thought I was seeing double," Jack said with a warm smile. "I'm Jack Dawson, nice to meet you."

"Fabrizio De Rossi. Bouna sera,' Fabrizio added cordially.

"So you're Italian," said Lyle observantly to Fabrizio.

"You're the first Italian we've ever met," added Leonard.

"We don't get that much variety in neighbors where we come from at our home in Mississippi," explained Lyle.

"I thought you two had to be from somewhere down South," said Jack observantly.

"Yep, we are, and proud of it," said Lyle. "Our folks have always been very proud of us and said they didn't expect for us to be twins but they were happy for it all the same. Two is always better than one they believe. And now we're gonna make our folks more proud of us than ever when we both come home after the war with victory all over us."

"I'm sure they will be," said Jack. "My folks would be proud of me after the war too if they were still alive. You see, they were both killed in a fire when I was fifteen back in Wisconsin."

"Very tragic," said Lyle.

"How about your folks?" Leonard asked Fabrizio.

"My papa is passed on now, and my mama lives with me and the rest of my family in New York. She said I will make her very proud if I just follow my papa's advice and go where my destiny leads me," he told them."

"That's quite right," said Lyle.

"And we all have a destiny," added Leonard.

"You two seem to pick up after each other's speech so easily," Jack said observantly.

"Well, that is a thing that comes with being twins, we guess," said Lyle.

"But we do still have many of our differences as well," added Leonard. "For instance, I like the color blue."

"And I like the color red," added Lyle.

"Well, anyway it must be great to for you two to have the kind of bond that you have," said Jack. "Fabri and I aren't brothers by blood but we are by spirit and so we are much just as inseperable as you two seem to be."

It was just then that the door opened again and in stepped two more young men. One was tall and lanky with thick brown hair and green eyes. The other had black hair and dark brown eyes and a thin fuzzy mustache similar to Fabrizio's. They each smiled in greeting when they met with them.

"Hola! I am Marco Maguilio!" said the first man in an accent that Fabrizio didn't quite recognize as it sounded similar to his own but not quite.

"I'm James Falcon, but all my friends call me Jimmy and so you can too," said the other man.

Then after all the formal introductions were made amongst the six of them, Fabrizio turned to Marco and said, "You're accent, is not Italiano, is it?"

"No," he replied with a chuckle. "I'm a Hispanic. I'm from New Mexico, and that is here in the United States and so I'm an American citizen and so I honor my duty to be here right now."

"So do I," Fabrizio said. "I am now an American citizen also, and as my homeland of Italia is allies with America I honor my duty to fight for them."

"You sure do seem like a fine soldier," said Marco. "I didn't really think I could be one at first myself but my mama told me I could if I just wanted to be."

"So did my mama!" said Fabrizio.

"So where are you from?" Jack asked Jimmy then.

"I'm from a place called Concord, New Hampshire," he replied. "I left my fiance behind there, and she really didn't want me to come here at all. But I promised her I would come back to her as soon I had done my duty and the war was done with. And of course she knows I am a man of my word."

"I promised my wife the same thing," said Marco.

"So did I," said Jack.

"Me too," added Fabrizio.

"So how long have you been married, amigos?" asked Marco.

"For five years," replied Jack.

"And for me almost the same," added Fabrizio.

"You two are so lucky," said Marco. "I have only been married for six months now. My wife and I hadn't been planning to get married quite as soon as we did but when the war came and started to spread out we figured we had best make the most of our lives with each other while we still had them."

Jack nodded approvingly. "That is just what I've always believed too."

"And while it may be a good thing to live by I still think my wife, Serafina, worries about me too much. But I tell her the only thing I have to worry about around here is how to keep shooting straight. And that I'll be home again before she or our baby know it."

"So you have a baby too?" asked Fabrizio with interest.

"Well, not yet," replied Marco. "But very soon. Serafina is now four months along, and if it is a girl we will name her after her mother Estrella, and if it a boy we will name him after me. Have you any children of your own?"

"Si," said Fabrizio. "I have two small ones, a boy and girl, and they and my Helga are my life."

"And so it is with me and my Rose and our daughter Josie," added Jack.

"Well, me and Lucia are planning on having babies as soon as I come home," said Jimmy.

"So we all are fighting and then going back home for the same cause, no?" Fabrizio said observantly.

The other five men all nodded their agreements and Jack said, "So it looks like we're all on God's good humor."

"Well, that does not include me though," said Jimmy. "As I do not even believe in God."

The others all turned to stare at him rather wide-eyed, especially Marco who seemed to look as if he had never thought one couldn't believe.

Finally Jack broke the awkward silence as he asked, "Why not?"

"Well, for starters," he explained, "I just happened to be brought up in a pretty much non-believing household. And then when I was twelve years old my mother got very sick and I'd heard of God and that he could make her well again if I asked him to and so I did, and a lot. But she still she died."

"Both my folks died long ago in a much worst way," said Jack.

"And my Papa died also," added Fabrizio.

"And you still believe there's a God?" Jimmy asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well... yes," said Jack. "I mean it's not like He started the fire that killed my folks or anything."

"Yeah, but why would he just let it happen though?" asked Jimmy. "I can't understand that."

Jack was silent in though for a moment and then he said, "Well, I don't know... but maybe there was a reason why my folks died when they did. After all, if they hadn't I likely would never have gone abroad and boarded the Titanic where I met my wife Rose on, and I also wouldn't have met Fabri then and so he wouldn't have met his wife Helga in the same way."

"You mean to say you were on the Titanic," said Jimmy in much surprise. "I remember learning that I had lost an uncle on that ship. So then if there is a God why did that ship have to sink and so many people on it die when it did, huh?"

Everyone looked at each other for a few moments in turn and then finally Fabrizio spoke up, "I admit I do not know at all. But as my Mama say to me, 'everything happens for a reason,'"

Jimmy rolled his eyes and said, "The only reason anything happens is because it just does and there is nothing to guide it is why. You don't need school to learn that."

Then once again no one had anything to say. But fortunately the silence was ended shortly by their Commander coming in to announce that dinner would soon be ready.


	18. Chapter 18

During their first few days all Fabrizio and Jack along with the other new recruits did was hike all day long. They then moved onto other areas, they practiced jumping into the enemy's trench with fixed bayonets, and climbing up high hills, and grenade throwing, and also bayonet shooting practice with simulated war conditions wearing gas masks and tin hats.

Fabrizio progressed well in some areas such as climbing over things and leaping into trenches, and in some other areas he didn't progress as easily. Such as target shooting practice, mainly because he had never even held a gun before let alone ever used one. And his gun was also often filled with grease and needed to be cleaned out first. He would miss not only the target center by a long shot, but wouldn't even get close to where it was.

He felt somewhat embarrassed by this. But then he me met again with Sean O' Thairity who he had met once before when the young Irishman had first come to America and he had helped him to get settled in. Now Sean was helping him to get settled into being a soldier in turn it seemed. Sean was so excellently skilled with his bayonet, and also with grenade throwing right on target that soon not just Fabrizio but some others who were having difficulty learning to use these things gathered around him for assistance.

"Mamma Mia! Sean, you are magnifico at all these things! How do you do it?" Fabrizio had said to him during one drill.

"It just runs in me blood," Sean had replied. "Big Irish hands you know."

Fabrizio thought then about how much Sean really reminded him of Tommy Ryan who he had seen murdered before his eyes amidst the sinking of the Titanic five years ago. Tommy had seemed so tough and proud with a righteous temper and attitude, and yet at the same time he sure did have a great sense of humor about a lot of things. He couldn't help wondering how Tommy might be doing right now if he were right here with them.

Sean seemed to be sensing Fabrizio's thoughts as he then said, "Tommy would be proud to be here right now with us. He would have been so honored to show off his skill. I still miss him everyday."

During most of the evenings after drilling they would all go into the barroom and would pass around drinks, and also many stories and songs and jokes with each other. So that before long they were all like one big family to one another.

During one evening Jack and Fabrizio were sitting across from another man with neatly trimmed blonde hair and bright green eyes. His name was Barnaby Rowe. He had a broad baritone voice in which he would recite stories about his home life in California. He told them in a way that made them all easily able to envision them happening and to really see how he felt during the thing happening in them. They then learned that he was an actor in a place called Hollywood where moving pictures were made.

"The movies may be small things right now," he told them, "but someday they're gonna be huge and millions of people will be seeing them. I just hope I'll be there when they do."

"My wife is an actress also," Jack mentioned to him. "She really loves acting in plays at the small time theater in our home in New York. She also knows about moving pictures and she really wants to be in them someday she tells me."

"Well, after the war is over I think I'd like to meet with your wife and see how she is and perhaps then I can set her up with some of the producers I know of in Hollywood. I know a lot of terrific ones, I really do," Barnaby said.

"I'd like that, and so would Rose," said Jack.

The days turned to weeks, and then began turning to months. And all the while Jack and Fabrizio were writing letters back and forth to their families back home. It was soon August and Antonio's fourth birthday came and Fabrizio found himself missing his son more than ever and wishing he could be with him if only for just a moment. So he sat down and wrote a letter intended especially for him.

_Dear Antonio,_

_I hope you are happy today as today you have grown to four years. In spite of my not being able to be with you I really want for you to be happy and know that I am always thinking of you and of Mama. Although I cannot hold you or say these thing to your face I still want for you to know I love you with all my heart and so tonight when the moon and the stars come out I will look up at them and I'll make a wish for you and if you will do the same that wish will come true somehow. And I hope you will continue to think of me in your dreams at night and in your heart during the day, and I will do the same for you, my little angel. And I will come home to you soon._

_Your loving papa._

He tucked the letter into its envelope and sealed it with a kiss as he always did. Then moments later, Jack came up to him with a very distressed look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" Fabrizio asked with concern.

Jack held out his latest letter he had just got from Rose and said, "It's Rose. She just found out she's pregnant again."

"But that is good news, no?" Fabrizio replied.

"Well, of course," said Jack. "I'll be happy to have another child in my family. It's just that I hate to think of Rose having to go through with it all by herself without me there to take care of her through it all."

"Fabrizio put a comforting arm around Jack's shoulder and said, "Rosa is not alone, you know. Helga and my Mama are there with her and they can help her get through it all just as well. And Rosa is a very strong you know. She would not want you to suffer because of her."

Jack nodded slowly and said, "I guess you're right, Fabri. Maybe I am worrying too much. Oh, and she also mentioned that if it is a boy she will name him after both of us. How about that?"

Fabrizio grinned. "Che Splendida!"

Jack smiled as well, and then his expression dimmed as he said while speaking his mind, "I wonder if that maybe means she's worried she might not see us ever again, even after the war."

Fabrizio looked him completely in the eye and said in a serious tone, "Jack, you must not not talk like that. That is pazzo. You must keep believing we will both come home and that it will be soon, mio amico. Because that I believe is how we can be sure we will."

Jack nodded and said, "I don't know how I'd be without you, Fabri."


End file.
